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BUDGE    AND    TODDIE 

OR 

HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY 


THE  MAID  S  GENERAL  CARE  OF  THE  BOYS 


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PS 


COPYRIGHT,  1908,  BY 

GROSSET    &   DUNLAP 


BUDGE  &  TODDIE 


HPHE  Autnor  of  "Helen's  Babies" 
dedicated  that  book  "To  the 
Parents  of  the   Best  Chil 
dren  in  the  World";  and 
his   commercial  hint 
appended  thereunto 
was  so  generally 
taken,    that    he    is   im 
pelled   by  selfishness  to 
seek  even  a  larger  class 
to  which  to  inscribe  the 

present  volume. 
He  therefore  dedi 
cates  it  to 

Those  Who  Know 

How  to  Manage 

Other  People's 

Children. 


Introduction 


THE  many  indulgent  men  and  women  who 
liked  "Helen's  Babies"  so  well  that  they 
wished  they  had  written  it  themselves  would 
have  changed  their  minds  could  they  have 
been  compelled  to  read  criticisms  of  a  certain 
kind  that  were  inflicted  upon  the  author  as 
soon  as  his  name  and  mail  address  became 
known.  Some  people  were  in  such  haste  to 
relieve  their  minds  that  they  rushed  into 
print  with  their  charges  and  specifications, 
all  of  which  were  of  service  to  the  book,  as  so 
much  free  advertising ;  at  least,  the  publisher 
said  it  was,  and  his  opinion  on  such  a  matter 
was  entitled  to  special  respect. 

Some  of  the  critics  were  parents  of  the 
earnest,  forceful,  but  matter-of-fact  kind  that 
does  not  doubt  its  own  infallibility  in  family 
government  and  regards  all  children  as  scions 
of  one  unchanging  stock  and  needing  to  be 
treated  exactly  alike,  no  matter  in  what  di 
rection  their  tendencies  may  be.  A  larger 
number  were  unmarried  persons  with  the 
ories  of  their  own  which  had  not  been  marred 


in  whole  or  in  part  by  anything  so  utterly 
commonplace  and  exasperating  as  experi 
ence.  These  good  people,  whether  uncles  or 
aunts  of  children  over  whom  they  were  not 
allowed  to  exercise  any  authority,  or  mere 
bachelors  and  maids  unattached  to  anybody's 
babies  of  any  kind,  joined  in  abusing  Budge 
and  Toddie  as  the  worst  trained  children  that 
ever  were  tossed  into  print  and  in  declaring 
the  boys'  Uncle  Harry  incomparably  inca 
pable  as  a  disciplinarian,  unless,  indeed,  the 
parents  of  Budge  and  Toddie  were  still  less 
competent  to  bring  up  children  in  the  way 
they  should  go. 

Still  another  class  was  composed  of  pro 
fessional  teachers  who  had  taken  long,  serious 
courses  of  instruction  in  juvenile  humanity, 
its  nature,  possibilities,  limitations,  duties 
and  mental  conditions  at  specified  ages. 
Apparently  these  regarded  a  child  as  some 
thing  created  for  the  special  purpose  of  being 
subjected  to  personal,  exact  and  continuous 
domination  by  adults,  and  to  be  let  alone 
only  when  the  adults  themselves  wearied  of 
the  strain.  To  prove  the  unfitness  of  the 
boys'  uncle  and  their  parents  to  have  the 
care  of  children  they  quoted  fluently  from 
standard  authorities  on  education,  all  the 


way  from  Aristotle,  concerning  whose  chil 
dren  history  is  silent,  to  Froebel,  the  founder 
of  the  kindergarten  system,  who  was  child 
less. 

Others  who  joined  in  the  effort  to  analyze 
this  literary  butterfly  with  a  mallet  were  of 
the  class  that  could  not  understand  why  the 
misdeeds  and  shortcomings  of  Budge  and 
Toddie  were  not  treated  with  reproofs  and 
warnings  deduced  from  certain  catechisms,  of 
which  infant  depravity  is  a  popular  feature. 
And  there  were  the  people  that  never  read 
a  book  but  on  compulsion.  Anyone  errs 
greatly  who  believes  that  this  class  lacks  in 
telligence,  for  the  world  has  contained  many 
wondrously  clever  people  who  could  not  read 
or  write;  nevertheless,  men  and  women  who 
seldom  read  anything  do  take  any  book 
seriously,  no  matter  if  it  deserves  as  little 
attention  as  last  year's  almanac.  Some  of 
them  sought  out  the  author,  after  reading 
"Helen's  Babies,"  to  tell  him  in  good  faith 
what  they  would  have  done  to  Budge  and 
Toddie  to  correct  some  alleged  deficiencies. 

It  was  useless  to  assure  any  of  these  unex 
pected  critics  that  the  author  was  not  himself 
the  hero  of  his  story,  or  that  he  had  never 
been  manager  of  other  people's  children  when 


he  was  a  bachelor,  unless  unwillingly  and  for 
a  few  moments  at  a  time,  or  that  his  book 
was  not  in  any  sense  a  disclosure  of  the  meth 
ods  he  would  have  followed  had  such  a  re 
sponsibility  been  thrust  upon  him,  or  that  it 
was  no  longer  fashionable  for  a  man  to  write 
an  amusing  sketch  for  the  purpose  of  covertly 
inculcating  a  lot  of  moral  principles,  like  so 
many  sugar-coated  pills,  or  that  for  some 
years  he  had  been  joint  owner  of  some  chil 
dren  to  whose  mental  and  moral  well-being 
he  had  given  more  thought  and  care  than  to 
his  business  interests  and  almost  everything 
else  that  men  live  for,  and  consequently  he 
might  be  regarded  as  beyond  the  need  of 
volunteer  counsel  and  admonition. 

The  criticisms  continued  until  the  author 
repented  of  having  written  the  story  that  was 
the  cause  of  them.  But  one  day  a  publisher 
asked  for  some  more — much  more — about 
Budge  and  Toddie,  to  be  published  serially, 
and  the  inducements  he  offered  were  so 
timely  and  convincing  that  regrets  and  crit 
ics  alike  were  laughed  at.  The  stock  of 
available  material  was  unlimited,  for  had 
not  many  mothers  reproached  the  author 
for  not  having  put  into  print  the  tales  they 
had  told  him  of  their  own  boys'  doings— 


tales  which  they  knew  were  far  funnier  than 
any  recorded  in  "  Helen's  Babies" — and  had 
not  many  other  mothers  given  him  capital 
stories  with  positive  orders  to  put  them  in 
shape  for  publication  and  do  so  quickly? 
Besides,  he  had  a  store  of  similar  material  in 
his  own  mind.  How  to  use  the  aggregate 
mass  of  incident  did  not  readily  appear  to  his 
mind's  eye,  for  he  had  been  too  long  engaged, 
professionally,  in  picking  other  men's  books 
to  pieces  to  have  found  time  to  learn  how 
best  to  put  together  a  book  of  his  own.  He 
had  not  a  novelist's  privilege  of  choosing 
from  many  meritorious  models,  for  tales 
about  children,  yet  written  principally  to  be 
read  by  adults,  were  very  few  and  of  doubtful 
quality. 

Suddenly  out  of  nowhere,  apparently, 
came  the  suggestion  that  the  possible  experi 
ences  of  some  one,  any  one,  of  the  critics  who 
knew  exactly  how  other  people's  children 
should  be  managed  would  be  a  good  frame 
work  for  the  desired  story.  Naturally  the 
person  most  confident  of  such  ability  would 
be  the  best  character  for  the  purpose,  so  it 
should  be  a  young,  whole-hearted  woman  of 
positive  nature,  who  loved  children  dearly 
but  had  none  of  her  own  to  disarrange  her 


theories.  Facts  have  always  been  the  most 
pestilent  enemies  of  theories,  and  children  are 
facts,  sometimes  stubborn  facts,  always  start 
ling  ones  when  they  encounter  any  theory  not 
founded  on  the  rock  of  experience. 

So  the  tale  was  begun  in  haste,  as  well  as 
in  glee  over  its  probable  effect  on  some  of  the 
men  and  women  who  had  been  burdening  the 
author's  ears  and  mail-box  with  criticism  and 
counsel.  Whether  any  of  them  ever  read  a 
line  of  it  when  it  appeared  serially,  or  after 
ward  in  book  form,  remains  unknown;  prob 
ably  it  is  better  so,  for  the  author  was  thereby 
spared  the  meanness  of  exultation  over  men 
and  women  quite  as  well-meaning  as  himself, 
or  spared  the  humiliation  of  discovering 
that  he  had  done  his  work  so  badly  that  they 
were  unconscious  of  what  he  had  attempted 
to  do.  And,  really,  none  of  them  was  any 
wiser  in  his  own  conceit  than  was  the  author 
himself  before  he  had  any  children  of  his  own 
yet  was  sure  he  knew  how  other  people's 
children  should  be  trained,  admonished,  con 
trolled,  restrained,  disciplined  and  otherwise 
tormented  by  their  parents. 

The  new  book  was  spared  a  depressing  ex 
perience  of  its  predecessor,  for,  instead  of 
being  declined  by  almost  every  reputable 


publisher  in  the  United  States,  it  was  de 
manded  by  several  before  the  second  instal 
ment  appeared  and  the  number  of  requests 
for  it  increased  week  by  week  as  the  serial 
issue  continued. 

But,  like  almost  everything  else  from  the 
same  pen,  "Other  People's  Children"  was 
written  so  hastily  and  put  to  press  so  care 
lessly  that  it  abounded  in  repetitions  and 
other  errors  that  made  cultivated  readers 
grieve,  so  an  opportunity  to  allow  the  book  to 
drop  out  of  print  was  welcomed  by  the  author. 

Nevertheless  he  was  compelled  to  be 
lieve  his  friends  and  enemies  when  they 
insisted  that  "Other  People's  Children"  was 
an  abler  and  more  amusing  story  than 
"Helen's  Babies,"  for  their  opinion  agreed 
with  his  own.  So  he  has  responded  gladly 
to  the  request  of  the  present  publishers  that 
he  should  give  the  copy  a  careful  revision. 
It  is  extremely  unlikely  that  any  reader  of 
the  old  edition  will  detect  any  alterations  in 
the  new,  for  nothing  has  been  added  nor  has 
anything  of  consequence  been  taken  out ;  }^et 
the  author  and  publishers  know  that  more 
than  a  thousand  corrections  and  emendations 
have  been  made  and  that  almost  all  of  them 
were  needed. 


xm 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Maid's  General  Care  of  the  Boys Frontispiece. 

Mrs.  Burton  Brushed  a  Tiny  Crumb   from   Her  Page 

Robe Facing       4 

"It's  Only  Jus'  About  So  Long" 9 

"We's  Makin'  Pickles  for  You" 17 

"I  Got  Into  a  Hen's  Nesht  Where  There  Was  Some 

Eggs" 23 

"Isn't  It  Lovaly?" Facing     30 

"Ragged,  Dirty  Men  Talk  to  My  Papa  Sometimes"....      37 

"Yes,  an'  We  Put  a  Little  Stone  at  the  Head  of  the 

Grave  " 43 

"Don't  Either  of  You  Move  Out  of  a  Chair?" 47 

"  — But  I  Didn't  Know  Ashes  Made  "Em" 53 

"Splashin"  In  the  Bathtub" 59 

"Jump!  "  Shouted  Mr.  -Burton Facing  66 

"Cats,"  Uttered  Mr.  Burton 75 

Both  Started  In  Chase  of  It 79 

"Tell  Me  What  You  Think  About  It" Facing  92 

"We  Got  Three  or  Four  Nice  Bunches" 99 

"So  I  Putted  Crosses  on  the  Door" 101 

"Then  You  Can  Only  Have  One  Bite,"  Said  Budge...  .  107 

"Where  Did  the  Cards  Come  From?" 113 

He  Kicked,  Pushed,  Screamed  and  Roared 119 

The  Jardiniere  Came  Down  With  a  Crash 125 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 
"Threw  a  Mean  Old  Dirty  Carpet  On  Top  of  If  .Facing  130 

Toddie  Playing  Bear 137 

Budge  Taking  Up  the  Collection Facing  146 

Terry 155 

The  General  Fell  Into  the  Water Facing  160 

"Dreamin'  I  was  In  a  Candy-Store" 167 

"Wonder  How  Big  Moons  Got  to  be  Little  Again  " 173 

"A  Cow  Readin'  An  Atlas" 175 

" How  Do  They  Get  Things  to  Eat  for  the  Angels?".  .  ..    181 

The  Squeak  of  the  Violin  and   the  Wail  of  a    Badly 

Played  Wind  Instrument 187 

Uncle   Harry's    Frantic    Examination   of  His  Beloved 

Violin ^ 193 

Both  Boys  Tumbled  Into  the  Room 199 

Toddie  Drank  About  Two  Swallows  of  Water.  .Facing  204 

Suddenly  Heard  a  Splash  and  a  Howl 211 

Budge  Enlivened  the  Dust  of  the  Roadway 215 

Further  Progress  Was   Arrested Facing  222 

"Well,"  Said  Budge  "'Cause  You're  Different" 227 

Pretending  to  be  Horses Facing  232 

Budge  Lost  His  Balance 239 

Two  Inquiring  Faces  Hanging  Over  the  Bread-Pan 243 

A  Loud  Report  Startled  the  Party Facing  246 

"Too  Much  Tea  Isn't  Good  for  People,  Is  It?" 253 

"When  We  Cooked  'Em,  What  Do  You  Think?'!  Facing  256 

Budge  and  Toddie  Playing  Doctor 265 

Down  the  Stairs,  Dashed  Terry 271 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

"Why  Aunt   Alice!      How   Did   You   Upset  That         Page 

Table?" 275 

A  Red  Pepper  Experience Facing  288 

Candy  Making 295 

The  Dandelion 301 

"We're  Goin*  Home" 303 

"Some  Nashty  Medshin" 313 

"Izhe  a  Shotted  Soldier" Facing  322 

Both  Boys  Sleeping  Soundly 333 

The  Obedient  Member  of  the  Family Facing  340 

Making  Them  What  I  Would  Like  Them  To  Be 351 

A  Little  Visitor  at  the  Burtons' 357 


BUDGE  AND  TODDIE 

OR 

HELEN'S   BABIES  AT  PLAY 

THE  writer  of  a  certain  much-abused 
book  sat  at  breakfast  one  morning  with 
his  wife,  and  their  conversation  turned,  as  it 
had  many  times  before,  upon  a  brace  of  boys 
who  had  made  a  little  fun  for  the  lovers  of 
trifling  stories  and  a  great  deal  of  trouble  for 
their  uncle.  Mrs.  Burton,  thanks  to  that 
womanly  generosity  which,  like  a  garment, 
covers  the  faults  of  men  who  are  happily 
married,  was  so  proud  of  her  husband  that 
she  admired  even  his  book;  she  had  made 
magnificent  attempts  to  defend  it  at  points 
where  it  was  utterly  indefensible;  but  her 
critical  sense  had  been  frequently  offended 
by  her  husband's  ignorance  regarding  the 
management  of  children.  On  the  particular 
morning  referred  to,  this  critical  sense  was 
extremely  active. 

"To  know,  Harry,"  said  Mrs.  Burton, 
"that  you  gave  so  little  true  personal  atten 
tion  to  Budge  and  Toddie,  while  you  pro- 


2         BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

fessed  to  love  them  with  the  tenderness 
peculiar  to  blood -relationship,  is  to  wonder 
whether  some  people  do  not  really  expect 
children  to  grow  as  the  forest  trees  grow, 
utterly  without  care  or  training." 

"I  spent  most  of  my  time,"  Mr.  Burton 
replied,  attacking  his  steak  with  more  energy 
than  was  called  for  at  the  breakfast -table  of 
a  man  whose  business  hours  were  easy,  "  I 
spent  most  of  my  time  in  saving  their  par 
ents'  property  and  their  own  lives  from  de 
struction.  When  had  I  an  opportunity  to 
do  anything  else  ? ' ' 

A  smile  of  conscious  superiority,  the  hon 
esty  of  which  made  it  none  the  less  tantalizing, 
passed  lightly  over  Mrs.  Burton's  features  as 
she  replied: 

"All  the  while.  You  should  have  ex 
plained  to  them  the  necessity  for  order, 
cleanliness  and  self-restraint.  Do  you 
imagine  that  their  pure  little  hearts 
would  not  have  received  it  and  acted  upon 
it?" 

Mr.  Burton  offered  a  Yankee  reply. 

"  Do  you  suppose,  my  dear,"  said  he  "  that 
the  necessity  for  all  these  virtues  was  never 
brought  to  their  attention?  Did  you  never 
hear  the  homely  but  significant  saying,  that 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY       3 

you  may  lead  a  horse  to  water,  but  you  can't 
make  him  drink  ? ' ' 

With  the  promptness  born  of  true  intui 
tion,  Mrs.  Burton  went  around  this  verbal 
obstacle  instead  of  attempting  to  reduce  it. 

"You  might  at  least  have  attempted  to 
teach  them  something  of  the  inner  signifi 
cance  of  things,"  said  Mrs.  Burton.  'Then 
they  would  have  brought  a  truer  sense  to  the 
contemplation  of  everything  about  them." 

Mr.  Burton  gazed  almost  worshipfully  at 
this  noble  creature  whose  impulses  led  her 
irresistibly  to  the  discernment  of  the  motives 
of  action,  and  with  becoming  humility  he 
asked : 

"  Will  you  tell  me  how  you  would  have 
explained  the  inner  significance  of  dirt,  so  that 
those  boys  could  have  been  trusted  to  cross 
a  dry  road  without  creating  for  themselves 
a  halo  which  should  be  more  visible  than 
luminous  ? ' ' 

"  Don't  trifle  about  serious  matters, 
Harry,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  after  a  hasty  but 
evident  search  for  a  reply.  "  You  know  that 
conscience  and  aesthetic  sense  lead  to  correct 
lives  all  persons  who  subject  themselves  to 
their  influence,  and  you  know  that  the  purest 
natures  are  the  most  susceptible.  If  men 


4        BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

and  women,  warped  and  mistrained  though 
their  earlier  lives  may  have  been,  grow  into 
sweetness  and  light  under  right  incentives, 
what  may  not  be  done  with  those  of  whom  it 
was  said,  'Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven'  ?" 

Mr.  Burton  instinctively  bowed  his  head 
at  his  wife's  last  words ,  but  raised  it  speedily 
as  the  lady  uttered  an  opinion  which  was 
probably  suggested  by  the  holy  sentiment 
she  had  just  expressed. 

"  Then  you  allowed  them  to  be  dreadfully 
irreverent  in  their  conversations  about  sacred 
things,"  said  she. 

"Really,  my  dear,"  expostulated  the  vic 
tim,  "you  must  charge  up  some  of  these 
faults  to  the  children's  parents.  I  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  formation  of  the 
children's  habits,  and  their  peculiar  habit  of 
talking  about  what  you  call  sacred  things  is 
inherited  directly  from  their  parents.  Their 
father  says  he  doesn't  believe  it  was  ever  in 
tended  that  mere  mention  of  a  man  in  the 
Bible  should  be  a  patent  of  sacredness,  and 
Helen  agrees  with  him." 

Mrs.  Burton  coughed.  It  is  surprising 
what  a  multitude  of  suggestions  can  be  con 
veyed  by  a  gentle  cough. 

"I  suppose,"  she  said  slowly,  as  if  musing 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY        5 

aloud,  "that  inheritance  is  the  method  by 
which  children  obtain  many  objectionable 
qualities  for  which  they  themselves  are 
blamed,  poor  little  things.  I  don't  know 
how  to  sympathize  in  the  least  degree  with 
this  idea  of  Tom's  and  Helen's,  for  the  May- 
tons,  and  my  mother's  family,  too,  have 
always  been  extremely  reverent  toward 
sacred  things.  You  are  right  in  laying  the 
fault  to  them  instead  of  the  boys,  but  I 
cannot  see  how  they  can  bear  to  inflict  such 
a  habit  upon  innocent  children  and  I  must 
say  that  I  can't  see  how  they  can  tolerate  it 
in  each  other." 

Mrs.  Burton  raised  her  napkin,  and  with 
fastidious  solicitude  brushed  a  tiny  crumb  or 
two  from  her  robe  as  she  finished  this  remark. 
Dear  creature!  She  needed  to  display  a 
human  weakness  to  convince  her  husband 
that  she  was  not  altogether  too  good  for 
earth,  and  this  implication  of  a  superiority 
of  origin,  the  darling  idea  of  every  woman 
but  Eve,  answered  the  purpose.  Her  spouse 
endured  the  infliction  as  good  husbands 
always  do  in  similar  cases,  though  he  some 
what  hastily  passed  his  coffee-cup  for  more 
sugar,  and  asked,  in  a  tone  in  which  self- 
restraint  was  distinctly  perceptible: 


6         BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"What  else,  my  dear?" 

Mrs.  Burton  suddenly  comprehended  the 
situation;  she  left  her  chair,  made  the  one 
atonement  which  is  always  sufficient  be 
tween  husband  and  wife,  and  said : 

"  Only  one  thing,  you  dear  old  boy,  and 
even  that  is  a  repetition,  I  suppose.  It's 
only  this :  parents  are  quite  as  remiss  as  lov 
ing  uncles  in  training  their  children,  instead 
of  merely  watching  them.  The  impress  of 
the  older  and  wiser  mind  should  be  placed 
upon  the  child  from  the  earliest  dawn  of  its 
intelligence,  so  that  the  little  one's  shall  be 
determined,  instead  of  being  left  to  chance." 

"And  the  impress  is  readily  made,  of 
course,  even  by  a  love-struck  uncle  on  a 
short  vacation?" 

"  Certainly.  Even  wild  animals  are  often 
tamed  at  sight  by  master-minds." 

"  But  suppose  these  impressible  little  be 
ings  should  have  opinions  and  wishes  and 
intentions  of  their  own  ? ' ' 

'They  should  be  overcome  by  the  adult 
mind." 

"And  if  they  object?" 

'That  should  make  no  difference,"  said 
Mrs.  Burton,  gaining  suddenly  an  inch  or 
two  in  stature  and  queenly  beauty. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY       7 

"  Do  you  mean  that  you  would  really  make 
them  obey  you?"  asked  Mr.  Burton,  with  a 
gaze  as  reverent  as  if  the  answer  would  be  by 
absolute  authority. 

'  'Certainly !' '  replied  the  lady,  adding  a  grace 
or  two  to  her  fully  aroused  sense  of  command. 

"By  Jove!"  exclaimed  her  husband, 
"what  a  remarkable  coincidence!  That  is 
just  what  I  determined  upon  when  I  first 
took  charge  of  those  boys.  And  yet— 

"And  yet  you  failed,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 
" How  I  wish  I  had  been  in  your  place!" 

"So  do  I,  my  dear,"  said  Mr.  Burton; 
"or,  at  least,  I  would  wish  so  if  I  didn't 
realize  that  if  you  had  had  charge  of  those 
children  instead  of  I,  there  wouldn't  have 
occurred  any  of  the  blessed  accidents  that 
helped  to  make  you  Mrs.  Burton." 

The  lady  smiled  lovingly,  but  answered: 

"  I  may  have  the  opportunity  yet;  in  fact 
— oh,  it's  too  bad  that  I  haven't  yet  learned 
how  to  keep  anything  secret  from  you — I 
have  arranged  for  just  such  an  experiment. 
And  I'm  sure  that  Helen  and  Tom,  as  well 
as  you,  will  learn  that  I  am  right." 

"  I  suppose  you  will  try  it  while  I'm  away 
on  my  spring  trip  among  the  dealers?" 
queried  Mr.  Burton  hastily.  "Or,"  he  con- 


8         BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

tinned,  "  if  not,  I  know  you  love  me  well 
enough  to  give  me  timely  notice,  so  I  can 
make  a  timely  excuse  to  get  away  from  home. 
When  is  it  to  be?" 

Mrs.  Burton  replied  by  a  look  which  her 
husband  was  failing  to  comprehend  when 
there  came  help  to  him  from  an  unexpected 
source.  There  were  successive  and  violent 
rings  of  the  door-bell,  and  as  many  tremen 
dous  pounds,  apparently  with  a  brick,  at  the 
back  door.  Then  there  ensued  a  violent 
slamming  of  doors,  a  trampling  in  the  hall 
as  of  many  war-horses,  and  a  loud,  high- 
pitched  shout  of,  "I  got  in  fyst,' '  and  a  louder, 
deeper  one  of  "  So  did  I ! "  And  then,  as  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Burton  sprang  from  their  chairs 
with  faces  full  of  apprehension  and  inquiry 
the  dining-room  door  opened  and  Budge  and 
Toddie  shot  in  as  if  propelled  from  a  catapult. 

"Hello!"  exclaimed  Budge,  by  way  of 
greeting,  as  Toddie  wriggled  from  his  aunt's 
embrace,  and  seized  the  tail  of  the  family 
terrier.  "What  do  you  think?  We've  got 
a  new  baby,  and  Tod  and  I  have  come  down 
here  to  stay  for  a  few  days;  papa  told  us  to. 
Don't  seem  to  me  you  had  a  very  nice  break - 
bux,"  concluded  Budge,  after  a  critical  sur 
vey  of  the  table. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY       9 

"And  it's  only  jus'  about  so  long,"  said 
Toddie,  from  whose  custody  the  dog  Terry 
had  hurriedly  removed  his  tail  by  the  con 
clusive  proceeding  of  conveying  his  whole 
body  out  of  doors — ''only  jus'  so  long!"  re- 


IT  S  ONLY  JUS    ABOUT  SO  LONG-i 

peated  Toddie,  placing  his  pudgy  hands  a 
few  inches  apart,  and  contracting  every 
feature  of  his  countenance,  as  if  to  indicate 
the  extreme  diminutiveness  of  the  new  heir. 
Mrs.  Burton  kissed  her  nephews  and  her 
husband  with  more  than  usual  fervor  and 


io       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

inquired  as  to  the  sex  of  the  new  inhab 
itant. 

"Oh,  that's  the  nicest  thing  about  it," 
said  Budge.  "It's  a  girl.  I'm  tired  of  such 
lots  of  boys — Tod  is  as  bad  as  a  whole  lot, 
you  know,  when  I  have  to  take  care  of  him. 
Only,  now  we're  bothered,  'cause  we  don't 
know  what  to  name  her.  Mamma  told  us  to 
think  of  the  loveliest  thing  in  all  the  world, 
so  I  thought  about  squash-pie  right  away; 
but  Tod  thought  of  molasses  candy,  and  then 
papa  said  neither  of  'em  would  do  for  the 
name  of  a  little  girl.  I  don't  see  that  they're 
not  as  good  as  roses  and  violets,  and  all  the 
other  things  that  they  name  little  girls  after.'7 

During  the  delivery  by  Budge  of  this  in 
formation,  Toddie  had  been  steadily  ex 
claiming,  "I— I— I— I— I— I !"  like  a 

prudent  parliamentarian  who  wants  to  make 
sure  of  recognition  by  the  chair.  In  his  ex 
citement,  he  failed  to  realize  for  some  seconds 
that  his  brother  had  concluded,  but  he  finally 
exclaimed:  "An'  I — I — I— I — I'm  goin'  to 
give  her  my  turtle,  an'  show  her  how  to  make 
mud  pies  wif  currants  in  'em." 

"Huh!"  said  Budge,  with  inexpressible 
contempt  in  his  tones .  ' '  Girls  don 't  like  such 
things.  I'm  going  to  give  her  my  blue 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY      n 

necktie,  and  take  her  riding  in  the  goat- 
carriage." 

"  Well,  anyhow,"  said  Toddie,  with  the  air 
of  a  man  who  was  wresting  victory  from  the 
jaws  of  defeat,  "I'll  give  her  caterpillars.  I 
know  she'll  be  sure  to  like  them,  'cause 
they'se  got  lovely  fur  jackets  all  heavenly- 
green  an'  red  an'  brown,  like  ladies'  d jesses." 

"  And  you  don't  know  what  lots  of  pray  in' 
Tod  and  me  had  to  do  to  get  that  baby, ' '  said 
Budge.  "My!  It  just  makes  me  ache  to 
think  about  it !  Whole  days  and  weeks  and 
months ! ' ' 

''  Yesh, "  said  Toddie.  "  An'  Budgie  some 
times  was  goin'  to  stop,  'caush  he  fought  the 
Lord  was  too  busy  to  listen  to  us.  But  I 
just  told  him  that  the  Lord  was  our  biggesht 
papa,  an'  just  what  papas  ought  to  be,  an' 
papa  at  home  was  just  like  papas  ought  to 
be.  An'  the  baby  comeded.  Oh!  Yesh, 
an'  we  had  to  be  awful  good  too.  Why  don't 
you  be  real  good  an'  pray  lots ?  Then  maybe 
you'll  get  a  dear,  sweet,  little  baby!" 

The  temporary  reappearance  of  the  dog, 
Terry,  put  an  end  to  the  dispute,  for  both 
boys  moved  toward  him,  which  movement 
soon  developed  into  a  lively  chase.  Being 
not  unacquainted  with  the  boys,  and  know- 


12       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

ing  their  tender  mercies  to  be  much  like  those 
of  the  wicked,  Terry  sought  and  found  a 
forest  retreat  and  the  boys  came  panting 
back  and  sat  dejectedly  upon  the  well-curb. 
Mrs.  Burton,  who  stood  near  the  window, 
leaning  upon  her  husband's  shoulder,  looked 
tenderly  upon  them,  and  murmured : 

:<The  poor  little  darlings  are  homesick 
already.  Now  is  the  time  for  my  reign  to 
begin.  Boys!" 

Both  boys  looked  up  at  the  window.  Mrs. 
Burton  gracefully  framed  a  well-posed  pic 
ture  of  herself  as  she  leaned  upon  the  sill,  and 
her  husband  hung  admiringly  upon  her 
words.  "  Boys,  come  into  the  house,  and 
let's  have  a  lovely  talk  about  mamma." 

"  Don't  want  to  talk  about  mamma,"  said 
Toddie,  a  suspicion  of  a  snarl  modifying  his 
natural  tones.  "  Want sh  the  dog." 

"  But  mammas  and  babies  are  so  much 
nicer  than  dogs,"  pleaded  Mrs.  Burton,  after 
a  withering  glance  at  her  husband,  who  had' 
received  Toddie 's  remark  with  a  titter. 

"Well,  I  don't  think  so,"  said  Budge,  re 
flectively.  "  We  can  always  see  mamma  and 
the  baby,  but  Terry  we  can  only  see  once  in  a 
while,  and  he  never  wants  to  see  us,  somehow. 

"My  dear,"  said  Mr.  Burton  humbly,  "if 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     13 

you  care  for  the  experience  of  another,  my 
advice  is  that  you  let  those  boys  come  out  of 
their  disappointment  themselves.  They'll 
do  it  in  their  own  way  in  spite  of  you." 

'There  are  experiences,"  remarked  Mrs. 
Burton,  with  chilling  dignity,  "which  are 
useful  only  through  the  realization  of  their 
worthlessness.  Anyone  can  let  children 
alone.  Darlings,  did  you  ever  hear  the  story 
of  little  Patty  Pout?" 

"No,"  growled  Budge,  in  a  manner  that 
would  have  discouraged  any  one  not  con 
scious  of  having  been  born  to  rule. 

"Well,  Patty  Pout  was  a  nice  little  girl," 
said  Mrs.  Burton,  "  except  that  she  would 
sulk  whenever  things  did  not  happen  just  as 
she  wanted  them  to.  One  day  she  had  a 
stick  of  candy,  and  was  playing  'lose  and 
find'  with  it;  but  she  happened  to  put  it 
away  so  carefully  that  she  forgot  \vhere  it 
was,  so  she  sat  down  to  sulk,  and  suddenly 
there  came  up  a  shower  and  melted  that 
stick  of  candy,  which  had  been  just  around 
the  corner  all  the  while." 

"  Is  Terry  just  around  the  corner?"  asked 
Toddie,  jumping  up,  while  Budge  suddenly 
scraped  the  dirt  with  the  toes  of  his  shoes 
and  said: 


T4       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  If  Patty 'd  et  up  her  candy  while  she 
had  it,  she  wouldn't  have  had  any 
trouble." 

Mr.  Burton  hurried  into  the  back  parlor  to 
laugh  comfortably,  and  without  visible  dis 
respect,  while  Mrs.  Burton  remembered  that 
it  was  time  to  ring  the  cook  and  chamber 
maid  to  breakfast.  A  moment  or  two  later 
she  returned  to  the  window,  but  the  boys 
were  gone;  so  was  a  large  stone  jar,  which 
was  one  of  those  family  heirlooms  which  are 
abhorred  by  men  but  loved  as  dearly  by 
women  as  ancestral  robes  or  jewels.  Mrs. 
Burton  had  that  mania  for  making  preserves 
which  posterity  has  inflicted  upon  even  some 
of  the  brightest  and  best  members  of  the  race, 
and  the  jar  referred  to  had  been  carefully 
scalded  that  morning  and  set  in  the  sun, 
preparatory  to  being  filled  with  raspberry  jam. 

"Harry,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "won't  you 
step  out  and  get  that  jar  for  me?  It  must 
be  dry  by  this  time." 

Mr.  Burton  consulted  his  watch,  and  re 
plied  : 

"I've barely  time  to  catch  the  fast  train  to 
town,  my  dear,  but  the  boys  won't  fail  to  get 
back  by  dinner-time.  Then  you  may  be  able 
to  ascertain  the  jar's  whereabouts." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     15 

Mr.  Burton  hurried  from  the  front  door, 
and  his  wife  made  no  less  haste  in  the  oppo 
site  direction.  The  boys  were  invisible,  and 
a  careful  glance  at  the  adjacent  country 
showed  no  traces  of  them.  Mrs.  Burton 
called  the  cook  and  chambermaid,  and  the 
three  women  took,  each  one,  a  roadway 
through  the  lightly  wooded  ground  near  the 
house.  Mrs.  Burton  soon  recognized  fa 
miliar  voices,  and  following  them  to  their 
source,  she  emerged  from  the  wood  near  the 
rear  of  the  boys'  own  home.  Going  closer, 
she  traced  the  voices  to  the  Lawrence  barn, 
and  she  appeared  before  the  door  of  that 
structure  to  see  her  beloved  jar  in  the  middle 
of  the  floor,  and  full  of  green  tomatoes,  over 
which  the  boys  were  pouring  the  contents  of 
bottles  labeled  "Mustang  Liniment"  and 
"Superior  Carriage  Varnish."  The  boys 
became  conscious  of  the  presence  of  their 
aunt,  and  Toddie,  with  a  smile  in  which  con 
fidence  blended  with  the  assurance  of  success 
attained,  said: 

"  We's  makin'  pickles  for  you,  'cause  you 
told  us  a  nysh  little  story.  This  is  just  the 
way  mamma  makes  'em,  only  we  couldn't 
make  the  stuff  in  the  bottles  hot." 

Mrs.     Burton's    readiness    of    expression 


16       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

seemed  to  fail  her,  and  as  she  abruptly  quit 
ted  the  spot,  with  a  hand  of  each  nephew  in 
her  own,  Budge  indicated  the  nature  of  her 
feelings  by  exclaiming : 

"Ow!  Aunt  Alice!  don't  squeeze  my  hand 
so  hard!" 

"Boys,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "why  did  you 
take  my  jar  without  permission  ? ' ' 

"  What  did  you  say  ? "  asked  Budge.  "  Do 
you  mean  what  did  we  take  it  for?" 

"Certainly." 

"  Why,  we  wanted  to  give  you  a  s 'prise." 

"You  certainly  succeeded,"  said  Mrs.  Bur 
ton,  without  a  moment's  hesitation. 

"You  must  give  us  s 'prises,  too,"  said 
Toddie.  "  "S'prises  is  lovaly;  papa  gives  us 
lots  of  'em.  Sometimes  they's  candy,  but 
they's  nicest  when  they's  buttonanoes" 
(bananas) . 

"  How  would  you  like  to  be  shut  up  in  a  dark 
room  all  morning,  to  think  about  the  naughty 
thing  you've  done?"  asked  Mrs.  Burton. 

"Huh!"  replied  Budge.  "That  wouldn't 
be  no  s 'prise  at  all.  We  can  do  that  any 
time  that  we  do  anything  bad,  and  papa  and 
mamma  finds  out.  Why,  you  forgot  to 
bring  your  pickles  home!  I  don't  think  you 
act  very  nice  about  presents  and  s 'prises." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY      17 


Mrs.  Burton  did  not  explain  nor  did  she 
spend  much  time  in  conversation.  When  she 
reached  her  own  door,  however,  she  turned 
and  said: 

"  Now,  boys,  you  may  play  anywhere  in 
the  yard  that  you  like,  but  you  must  not  go 
away  or  come  into 
the  house  until  I 
call  you,  at  twelve 
o'clock.  I  shall 
be  very  busy  this 
morning,  and  must 


"WE'S  MAKIN'   PICKLES  FOR  YOU" 


i8       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

not  be  disturbed.  You  will  try  to  be  good 
boys,  won't  you?" 

"  I  will,"  exclaimed  Toddie,  turning  up  an 
honest  little  face  for  a  kiss,  and  dragging  his 
aunt  down  until  he  could  put  his  arms  about 
her  and  give  her  an  affectionate  hug.  Budge 
seemed  lost  in  meditation,  but  the  sound  of 
the  closing  of  the  door  brought  him  back 
to  earth;  he  threw  the  door  open,  and  ex 
claimed  : 

"Aunt  Alice!" 

"What?" 

"  Come  here — I  want  to  ask  you  some 
thing." 

"  It's  your  business  to  come  to  me,  Budge, 
if  you  have  a  favor  to  ask, "  said  Mrs.  Burton, 
from  the  parlor. 

"  Oh!  Well,  what  I  want  to  know  is,  how 
did  the  Lord  make  the  first  hornet — the  very 
first  one  that  ever  was  ? ' ' 

"Just  the  way  he  made  everything  else," 
replied  Mrs.  Burton.  'Just  by  wanting  it 
done." 

"  Then  did  Noah  save  hornets  in  the  ark? ' ' 
continued  Budge.  '  'Cause  I  don't  see  how 
he  kept  'em  from  stingin'  his  boys  and  girls, 
and  then  gettin'  killed  'emselves. ' ' 

"  You  ask  me  about  it  after  lunch,  Budge, " 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY      19 

said  Mrs.  Burton,  "  and  I  will  tell  you  all  I 
can .  Now  run  and  play . ' ' 

The  door  closed  again,  and  Mrs.  Burton, 
somewhat  confused,  but  still  resolute,  seated 
herself  at  the  piano  for  practice.  She  had 
been  playing  perhaps  ten  minutes,  when  a 
long-drawn  sigh  from  some  one  not  herself 
caused  her  to  turn  hastily  and  behold  the  boy 
Budge.  A  stern  reproof  was  ready,  but 
somehow  it  never  reached  the  young  man. 
Mrs.  Burton  afterward  explained  her  silence 
by  saying  that  Budge's  countenance  was  so 
utterly  doleful  that  she  was  sure  his  active 
conscience  had  realized  the  impropriety  of 
his  affair  with  the  jar,  and  he  had  come  to 
confess. 

"Aunt  Alice,"  said  Budge,  "do  you  know 
I  don't  think  much  of  your  garden?  There 
ain't  a  turtle  to  be  found  in  it  from  one  end 
to  the  other,  and  no  nice  grassy  place  to 
slide  down  like  there  is  at  our  house." 

"Can't  you  understand,  little  boy,"  re 
plied  Mrs.  Burton,  "that  we  arranged  the 
house  and  grounds  to  suit  ourselves,  and  not 
little  boys  who  come  to  see  us?" 

"Well,  I  don't  think  that  was  a  very  nice 
thing  to  do,"  said  Budge.  "My  papa  says 
we  ought  to  care  as  much  about  pleasing 


20       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

other  folks  as  we  do  for  ourselves.  I  didn't 
want  to  make  you  that  jar  of  pickles,  but 
Tod  said  'twould  be  nice  for  you,  so  I  went 
and  did  it,  instead  of  askin'  a  man  that  drove 
past  to  give  me  a  ride.  That's  the  way  you 
ought  to  do  about  gardens. ' ' 

"Suppose  you  run  out  now,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton,  "  I  told  you  not  to  come  in  until  I 
called  you." 

"  But  you  see  I  came  in  for  my  top — I  laid 
it  down  in  the  dining-room  when  I  came  in, 
and  now  it  ain't  there  at  all.  I'd  like  to 
know  what  you've  done  with  it,  and  why 
folks  can't  let  little  boys'  things  alone." 

"Budge,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton,  turning 
suddenly  on  the  piano-stool,  "  I  think  there's 
a  very  cross  little  boy  around  here  some 
where.  Suppose  I  were  to  lose  something  ? ' ' 

" 'Twas  a  three-cent  top,"  said  Budge. 
"  T wasn't  only  a  something." 

"  Suppose,  then,  that  I  were  to  lose  a  top," 
said  Mrs.  Burton,  "what  do  you  suppose  I 
would  do  if  I  wanted  it  very  much  ? ' ' 

"You'd  call  the  servant  to  find  it — that's 
what  I  want  you  to  do  now,"  said  Budge. 

"  I  shouldn't  do  anything  of  the  kind. 
Try  to  think,  now,  of  what  a  sensible  person 
ought  to  do  in  such  a  case." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     21 

Budge  dejectedly  traced  with  his  toe  one 
of  the  figures  in  the  carpet,  and  seemed  buried 
in  thought;  suddenly,  however,  his  face 
brightened,  and  he  looked  up  shyly  and  said, 
with  an  infinite  scale  of  inflection':— 

"I  know." 

"I  thought  you  would  find  out,"  said 
Mrs.  Burton,  with  an  encouraging  kiss  and 
embrace,  which  Budge  terminated  quite 
abruptly. 

"  One  victory  to  report  to  my  superior 
officer,  the  dear  old  humbug,"  murmured 
Mrs.  Burton,  as  she  turned  again  to  the  key 
board.  But  before  the  lady  could  again  put 
herself  en  rapport  with  the  composer  Budge 
came  flying  into  the  room  with  a  radiant  face, 
and  the  missing  top. 

"I  told  you  I  knew  what  you'd  do,"  said 
he,  "an'  I  just  went  and  done  it.  I  prayed 
about  it.  I  went  up-stairs  into  a  chamber 
and  shut  the  door,  and  knelt  down  an'  said, 
'Dear  Lord,  bless  everybody,  an'  don't  let 
me  be  bad,  an'  help  me  to  find  that  top  again, 
an'  don't  let  me  have  to  pray  for  it  as  long  as 
I  had  to  pray  for  that  baby. '  And  then  when 
I  came  down-stairs  there  was  that  top  on  the 
register,  just  where  I  left  it.  Say,  Aunt 
Alice,  I  think  brekbux  was  an  awful  long 


22       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

while    ago.     Don't    you    have    cakes    and 
oranges  to  give  to  little  boys?" 

"  Children  should  never  eat  between  meals, " 
Mrs.  Burton  replied.  "  It  spoils  their  diges 
tion  and  makes  them  cross." 

;'Then  I  guess  my  digestion's  spoilt  al 
ready,"  said  Budge,  "for  I'm  awful  cross 
sometimes,  an'  you  can't  spoil  a  bad  egg;— 
that's  what  Mike  says.  So  I  guess  I'd  better 
have  some  cake;  I  like  the  kind  with  raisins 
an'  citron  best." 

"Only  this  once,"  murmured  Mrs.  Burton 
to  herself,  as  she  led  the  way  to  the  dining- 
room  closet,  partly  for  the  purpose  of  hiding 
her  own  face.  "And  I  won't  tell  Harry 
about  it, "  she  continued,  with  greater  energy. 
"Here's  a  little  piece  for  Toddie,  too,"  said 
Mrs.  Burton,  "  and  I  want  you  both  to  re 
member  that  I  don't  want  you  to  come  in 
doors  until  you're  called." 

Budge  disappeared,  and  his  aunt  had  an 
hour  so  peaceful  that  she  began  to  'react 
against  it  and  started  to  call  her  nephews 
into  the  house.  Budge  came  in  hot  haste  in 
answer  to  her  call,  and  volunteered  the  in 
formation  that  the  Burton  chicken-coop  was 
much  nicer  than  the  one  at  his  own  house,  for 
the  latter  was  without  means  of  ingress  for 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY 


23 


small  boys.  Toddy,  however,  came  with 
evident  reluctance,  and  stopped  en  route  to  sit 
on  the  grass  and  gyrate  thereon  in  a  very  con 
strained  manner. 

"What's  the  matter,  Toddie?"  asked  Mrs. 
Burton,  who  speedily  discerned  that  the 
young  man  was  ill  at  ease. 

"Why,"  said 
Toddie,  "I  got 
into  a  hen's 
nesht  where 
there  was  some 
eggs,  an'  made 


"l  GOT  INTO  A  HEN'S  NESHT  WHERE  THERE  WAS  SOME  EGGS" 


believe  I  was  a  henny-penny  that  was  goin' 
to  hatch  little  tsickens,  an'  some  of  'em  was 
goin'  to  be  brown,  an'  some  white  an'  some 
black,  an'  dey  was  all  goin'  to  be  such  dear 
little  fuzzy  balls,  an'  dey  was  goin'  to  sleep  in 


24       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

the  bed  wif  me  every  night,  an'  I  was  goin'  to 
give  one  of  de  white  ones  to  dat  dear  little 
baby  sister,  an'  one  of  'em  to  you,  'cause  you 
was  sweet,  too,  an'  dey  was  all  goin'  to  have 
tsickens  of  deir  own  some  day,  an'  I  sitted 
down  in  de  nesht  ever  so  soffaly  'cause  I 
hasn't  got  f ewers,  you  know,  an'  when  I  got 
up  dere  wasn't  nuffin  dere  but  a  nasty  muss. 
An' I  don't  feel  comfitable." 

Mrs.  Burton  grasped  the  situation  at  once, 
and  shouted:  "Toddie,  sit  down  on  the 
grass.  Budge,  run  home  and  ask  Maggie  for  a 
clean  suit  for  Toddie.  Jane,  fill  the  bath 
tub." 

"  Don't  want  to  sit  on  the  gwass,"  whined 
Toddie.  "I  feels  bad,  an'  I  wantsh  to  be  loved. ' ' 

"Aunty  loves  you  very  much,  Toddie," 
said  Mrs.  Burton,  tenderly.  "  Doesn't  that 
make  you  happy  ? ' ' 

"  No,"  exclaimed  the  youth  with  great  em 
phasis.  "  Dat  kind  of  lovin'  don't  do  no 
good  to  little  boys  with  eggy  dresses. 
Wantsh  you  to  come  out  an'  sit  down  by  me 
an 'love  me." 

Toddie 's  eyes  said  more  than  his  lips,  so 
Mrs.  Burton  hurried  out  to  him,  prudently 
throwing  a  light  shawl  about  her  waist. 
Toddie  greeted  her  with  an  effusiveness  which 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     25 

was  touching  in  more  senses  than  one,  as 
Mrs.  Burton's  morning  robe  testified  by  the 
time  Budge  returned.  Carefully  enveloped 
in  a  hearth-rug,  Toddie  was  then  conveyed  to 
the  bath-room,  and  when  he  emerged  he  was 
so  satisfied  with  the  treatment  he  had  re 
ceived  that  he  remarked : 

"Aunt  Alice,  will  you  give  me  a  forough 
baff  every  day,  if  I  try  to  hatch  out  little 
tsickens  for  you  ? ' ' 

The  events  of  the  morning  resulted  in 
luncheon  being  an  hour  late,  so  Mrs.  Burton 
was  compelled  to  make  considerable  haste  in 
preparing  herself  for  a  round  of  calls.  She 
was  too  self-possessed,  however,  to  forget  the 
possible  risks  to  which  her  home  would  be 
subjected  during  her  absence,  so  she  called 
her  nephews  to  her  and  proceeded  to  instruct 
them  in  the  duties  and  privileges  of  the 
afternoon. 

"Darlings,"  she  said,  putting  an  arm 
around  each  boy,  "  Aunt  Alice  must  be  away 
this  afternoon  for  an  hour  or  two.  I  wonder 
who  will  take  care  of  the  house  for  her  ? ' ' 

"  I  want  to  go  wif  you, "  said  Toddie,  with  a 
kiss. 

"I  can't  take  you,  dear,"  said  the  lady, 
after  returning  Toddie 's  salute.  "The  walk 


26       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

will  be  too  long ;  but  auntie  will  come  back  to 
her  dear  little  Toddie  as  soon  as  she  can." 

"  Oh,  you're  goin'  to  walk  to  where  you's 
goin',  are  you?"  said  Toddie,  wriggling  from 
his  aunt's  arm.  "  Den  I  wouldn't  go  wif  you 
for  noffin '  in  the  wyld . ' ' 

The  pressure  of  Mrs.  Burton's  arm  relaxed, 
but  she  did  not  forget  her  duty. 

"Listen,  boys,"  said  she.  "Don't  you 
like  to  see  houses  neatly  and  properly  ar 
ranged,  like  your  mamma's  and  mine ? ' ' 

"I  do!"  said  Budge.  "I  always  think 
heaven  must  be  that  way,  with  parlors  an' 
pictures  an'  books  an'  a  piano.  Only  they 
don't  ever  have  to  sweep  in  heaven,  do  they, 
'cause  there  ain't  no  dirt  there.  But  I 
wonder  what  the  Lord  does  to  make  the 
little  angels  happy  when  they  want  to  make 
dirt-pies,  and  can't?" 

"Aunt  Alice  will  have  to  explain  that  to 
you  when  she  comes  back,  Budge.  But 
little  angels  never  want  to  make  mud-pies." 

"Why,  papa  says  people's  spirits  don't 
change  when  they  die,"  said  Budge.  "So 
how  can  little  boy  angels  help  it  ? " 

Mrs.  Burton  silently  vowed  that  at  a  more 
convenient  season  she  would  deliver  a  course 
of  systematic  theology  which  should  correct 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     27 

her  brother-in-law's  loose  teachings.  At 
present,  however,  the  sun  was  hurrying  to 
ward  Asia,  and  she  had  made  but  little  prog 
ress  in  securing  insurance  against  accident 
to  household  goods. 

"You  both  like  nicely  arranged  rooms," 
pursued  Mrs.  Burton,  but  Toddie  demurred. 

"  I  don't  like  'em,"  said  he.  " They're  the 
kind  of  places  where  folks  always  says 
'  Don't!'  to  little  boysh  that  wantsh  to  have 
nysh  times." 

"But,  Toddie,"  reasoned  Mrs.  Burton, 
"the  way  to  have  nice  times  is  to  learn  to 
enjoy  what  is  nicest.  People  have  been 
studying  how  to  make  homes  pretty  ever 
since  the  world  began." 

"Adam  an'  Eve  didn't,"  said  Toddie. 
"  Lord  done  it  for  'em;  an'  he  let  'em  do  just 
what  dey  wanted  to.  I  bet  little  Cain  an' 
Abel  had  more  fun  than  any  uvver  little 
boys  dat  ever  was. ' ' 

"Oh,  no,  they  didn't,"  said  Mrs.  Burton, 
"because  they  never  were  in  that  lovely 
garden.  Their  parents  had  to  think  and 
plan  a  long  time  to  make  their  home  beauti 
ful.  Just  think,  now,  how  many  people 
have  had  to  plan  and  contrive  before  the 
world  got  to  be  as  pleasant  a  place  as  it  is 


28       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

now!  When  you  look  at  your  mamma's 
parlor  and  mine,  you  see  what  thousands  and 
millions  of  people  have  had  to  work  to  bring 
about." 

"Gwacious!"  exclaimed  Toddie,  his  eyes 
opening  wider  and  wider.  "Dat's  wonner- 
ful!" 

"  Yes,  and  every  nice  person  alive  is  doing 
the  same  now,"  continued  Mrs.  Burton, 
greatly  encouraged  by  the  impression  she 
had  made,  "  and  little  boys  should  try  to  do 
the  same.  Every  one  should,  instead  of  dis 
turbing  what  is  beautiful,  try  to  enjoy  it, 
and  want  to  make  it  better  instead  of  worse. 
Even  little  boys  should  feel  that  way." 

"  I'se  goin'  to  'member  that,"  said  Toddie, 
with  a  far-away  look.  "  I  fink  it  awful  nysh 
for  little  boys  to  fink  the  same  finks  dat  big 
folks  do." 

"Dear  little  boy,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  aris 
ing.  "  Then  you  won't  let  anybody  disturb 
anything  in  Aunt  Alice's  house,  will  you? 
You'll  take  care  of  everything  for  her  just  as 
if  you  were  a  big  man,  won't  you?" 

"  Yesh,  indeedy,"  said  Toddie. 

"An'  me,  too,"  said  Budge. 

"You're  two  manly  little  fellows,  and  I 
shall  have  to  bring  you  something  real  nice," 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     29 

said  Mrs.  Burton,  kissing  her  nephews  good- 
by.  'There!"  she  whispered  to  herself,  as 
she  passed  out  of  the  garden-gate,  "  I  wonder 
what  my  lord  and  master  will  say  of  that 
victory  over  imperfect  natures,  of  the  sense 
of  the  fitness  of  things  ?  He  would  have  left 
the  boys  under  the  care  of  the  servants;  I 
am  proud  of  having  been  able  to  leave  them 
to  themselves." 

On  her  return,  two  hours  later,  Mrs.  Bur 
ton  was  met  at  her  front  door  by  two  very 
dirty  little  boys,  with  faces  full  of  importance 
and  expectancy. 

"  We  done  just  what  you  told  us,  Aunt 
Alice,"  said  Toddie.  "We  didn't  touch  a 
thing,  an'  we  thought  of  everything  we 
could  do  to  make  the  world  prettier.  D'just 
come  see." 

With  a  quickened  step  Mrs.  Burton  fol 
lowed  her  nephews  into  the  back  parlor. 
Furniture,  pictures,  books,  and  bric-a-brac 
were  exactly  as  she  left  them,  but  some  im 
provements  had  been  designed  and  partly 
executed.  A  bit  of  wall  several  feet  long, 
and  bare  from  floor  to  ceiling,  except  for  a 
single  picture,  had  long  troubled  Mrs.  Bur 
ton's  artistic  eye,  and  she  now  found  that 
tasteful  minds,  like  great  ones,  think  alike. 


3o       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  I  think  no  room  is  perfect  without  flow 
ers,"  said  Budge;  "  so  does  papa  an'  mamma, 
so  we  thought  we'd  s 'prise  you  with  some." 

On  the  floor,  in  a  heap  which  was  not  with 
out  tasteful  arrangement,  was  almost  a  cart 
load  of  stones  disposed  as  a  rockery,  and  on 
the  top  thereof,  and  working  through  the 
crevices,  was  a  large  quantity  of  street  dust. 
From  several  of  the  crevices  protruded  ferns, 
somewhat  wilted,  and  bearing  evidence  of 
having  been  several  times  disarranged  and 
dropped  upon  the  dry  soil  which  partly  cov 
ered  their  roots.  Around  the  base  was 
twined  several  yards  of  Virginia  creeper 
while  from  the  top  sprang  a  well-branched 
specimen  of  the  "Datura  stramonium"  (the 
common  "stink-weed").  The  three  conser 
vators  of  the  beautiful  gazed  in  silence  for  a 
moment,  and  then  Toddie  looked  up  with  an 
gelic  expression  and  said: 

"Isn't  it  lovaly?" 

"  I  hope  what  you  brought  us  is  real  nice," 
remarked  Budge,  "for  'twas  awful  hard 
work  to  make  that  rockery.  I  guess  I  never 
was  so  tired  in  all  my  life.  Mamma's  is  on  a 
big  box,  but  we  couldn't  find  any  boxes  any 
where,  an'  we  couldn't  find  the  servants  to 
ask  'em.  That  ain't  the  kind  of  datura  that 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY      31 

has  flowers  just  like  pretty  vases,  but  papa 
says  it's  more  healthy  than  the  tame  kind. 
The  ferns  look  kind  o'  thirsty,  but  I  couldn't 
see  how  to  water  'em  without  wettin'  the 
carpet,  so  I  thought  I'd  wait  till  you  came 
home,  and  ask  you  about  it." 

There  was  a  sudden  rustle  of  silken  robes 
and  two  little  boys  found  themselves  alone. 
When,  half  an  hour  later,  Mr.  Burton  re 
turned  from  the  city,  he  found  his  wife  more 
reticent  than  he  had  ever  known  her  to  be, 
while  two  workmen  with  market  baskets 
were  sifting  dust  upon  his  hall -carpets  and 
making  a  stone-heap  in  the  gutter  in  front  of 
the  house. 


32       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 


CHAPTER   II 

ON  the  morning  of  the  second  day  of  Mrs. 
Burton's  experiment,  the  aunt  of  Budge 
and  Toddie  awoke  with  more  than  her  usual 
sense  of  the  responsibility  and  burden  of  life. 
Her  husband's  description  of  a  charming  lot 
of  bric-a-brac  and  pottery  soon  to  be  sold  at 
auction  did  not  stimulate  as  much  inquiry  as 
such  announcements  usually  did,  and  Mrs. 
Burton's  cook  did  not  have  her  usual  early 
morning  visit  from  her  watchful  mistress. 
Mrs.  Burton  was  wondering  which  of  her 
many  duties  to  her  nephews  should  be  first 
attended  to;  but,  as  she  wondered  long  with 
out  reaching  any  conclusion  an  ever-sympa 
thizing  Providence  came  to  her  assistance, 
for  the  children  awoke  and  created  such  a 
hubbub  directly  over  her  head  that  she  speed 
ily  determined  that  reproof  was  the  first 
thing  in  order.  Dressing  hastily,  she  went  up 
to  the  chamber  of  the  innocents,  and  learned 
that  the  noise  was  occasioned  by  a  heavy 
antique  center-table,  which  was  flying  back 
and  forth  across  the  room,  the  motive  power 
consisting  of  two  pairs  of  sturdy  little  arms. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY       33 

"Hullo,  Aunt  Alice!"  said  Budge.  "I 
awful  glad  you  came  in.  The  table's  a  choo- 
choo,  you  know,  an'  my  corner's  New  York 
an'  Tod's  is  Hillcrest,  an'  he's  ticket-agent  at 
one  place  an'  I  at  the  other.  But  the  choo- 
choo  hasn't  got  any  engineer,  an'  we  have  to 
push  it,  an'  it  isn't  fair  for  ticket-agents  to  do 
so  much  work  besides  their  own.  Now  you 
can  be  engineer.  Jump  on ! " 

The  extempore  locomotive  was  accommo 
datingly  pushed  up  to  Mrs.  Burton  with  such 
force  as  to  disturb  her  equilibrium,  but  she 
managed  to  say : 

"  Do  you  do  this  way  with  your  mamma's 
guest-chamber  furniture  ? ' ' 

"No,"  said  Toddie,  "'cause  why,  'pare- 
chamber'sh  always  lockted.  B 'sides  dat, 
papa  once  tookted  all  de  wheels  off  our 
tables— said  tables  wash  too  restless." 

"Little  boys,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  returning 
the  table  to  its  place,  "  should  never  use  things 
which  belong  to  other  people  without  asking 
permission.  Nor  should  they  ever  use  any 
thing,  no  matter  who  it  belongs  to,  in  any  way 
but  that  in  which  it  was  made  to  be  used. 
Did  either  of  you  ever  see  a  table  on  a  rail 
road?" 

'  'Coursh  we  did,"  said  Toddie,  promptly; 


34      BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"dere's  a  tyne-table  at  Hillcrest,  an'annuv- 
ver  at  Dzersey  City.  How  could  choo- 
choos  turn  around  if  dere  wasn't?" 

"  It's  time  to  dress  for  breakfast  now, "  said 
Mrs.  Burton  in  some  confusion,  as  she  de 
parted. 

The  children  appeared  promptly  at  the 
table  on  the  ringing  of  the  bell  and  brought 
ravenous  appetites  with  them.  Mrs.  Burton 
composed  a  solemn  face,  rapped  on  the  table 
with  the  handle  of  the  carving-knife,  and  all 
heads  were  bowed  while  the  host  and  hostess 
silently  returned  thanks.  When  the  adults 
raised  their  heads  they  saw  that  two  juvenile 
faces  were  still  closely  hidden  in  two  pairs  of 
small  hands.  Mrs.  Burton  reverently  nod 
ded  at  each  one  to  attract  her  husband's 
attention,  and  mentally  determined  that  souls 
so  absorbed  in  thanksgiving  were  good  ground 
for  better  spiritual  seed  than  their  parents 
had  ever  scattered.  Slowly,  however,  twice 
ten  little  fingers  separated,  and  very  large 
eyes  peeped  inquiringly  between  them;  then 
Budge  suddenly  dropped  his  hands,  straight 
ened  himself  in  his  chair,  and  said : 

"Why,  Uncle  Harry!  Have  you  been  for- 
gettin'  again  how  to  ask  a  blessin'  ? ' ' 

And  Toddie,  looking  somewhat  complain- 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY       35 

ingly  at  his  uncle,  and  very  hungrily  at  the 
steak,  remarked: 

"  Said  my  blessin'  'bout  fifty  timesh." 

"  Once  would  have  been  sufficient,  Toddie," 
said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"Why didn't  you  say  yoursh  once,  den?' 
asked  Toddie. 

"I  did.  We  don't  need  to  talk  aloud  to 
have  the  Lord  hear  us,"  explained  Mrs. 
Burton. 

"  Tosin'  you  don't,"  said  Toddie,  "  I  don't 
fink  it's  a  very  nysh  way  to  do,  to  whisper 
rings  to  de  Lord.  When  I  whisper  anyfing 
mamma  says,  '  Toddie,  what's  you  whisperin' 
for  ?  You  'shamed  of  somefing  ? '  Guesh  you 
an'  Uncle  Harry's  bofe  'shamed  at  de  same 
time." 

Mr.  Burton  desired  to  give  his  wife  a  perti 
nent  hint  yet  dared  not  while  two  such  vigilant 
pairs  of  ears  were  present.  A  happy  thought 
struck  him  and  he  said  in  very  bad  German : 

"Is  it  not  time  for  the  reformation  to 
begin  ? ' ' 

And  Mrs.  Burton  answered: — 

"It  soon  will  be." 

"That's  awful  funny  talk,"  said  Budge. 
"I  wish  I  could  talk  that  way.  That's  just 
the  way  ragged,  dirty  men  talk  to  my  papa 


36 

sometimes,  and  then  he  gives  'em  lots  of 
pennies.  When  'was  you  an'  Aunt  Alice 
ragged  an'  dirty,  so  as  to  learn  to  talk  that 
way?" 

"Budge,  Budge!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton. 
'Thousands  of  very  rich  and  handsome  peo 
ple  talk  that  way — all  German  people  do." 

"Do  they  talk  to  the  Lord  so?"  asked 
Budge. 

"Certainly,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"Gracious!"  exclaimed  the  young  man. 
"  He  must  be  awful  smart  to  understand 
them." 

Mr.  Burton  repeated  his  question  in 
German,  but  Mrs.  Burton  kept  silent  and 
looked  extremely  serious,  with  a  ghost  of  a 
frown. 

"  What  are  you  boys  and  your  auntie  go 
ing  to  do  with  yourselves  to-day?"  asked 
Mr.  Burton,  anxious  to  clear  away  the  cloud 
of 'reticence  which,  since  the  night  before, 
had  been  marring  his  matrimonial  sky. 

"  I  guess,"  said  Budge,  looking  out  through 
the  window,  "it's  going  to  rain;  so  the  best 
thing  will  be  for  Aunt  Alice  to  tell  us  stories 
all  day  long.  We  never  do  get  enough 
stories." 

"  Just  the  thing!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY 


37 


her  face  coming  from  behind  the  clouds,  and 
with  more  than  its  usual  radiance. 

"  Hazh  you  got  plenty  of  stories  in  your 
'tomach?"  asked  Toddie,  poising  his  fork  in 
air,  regardless  of  the  gravy  which  trickled 


"RAGGED,  DIRTY  MEN  TALK  TO  MY  PAPA  SOMETIMES" 

down  upon  his  hand  from  the  fragment  of 
meat  at  the  end. 

"  Dozens  of  them,"  said  Mrs.  Burton.  "  I 
listened  to  stories  in  Sunday-school  for  about 
ten  years,  and  I  Ve  never  had  anybody  to  tell 
them  to." 


38       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  I  don't  think  much  of  Sunday-school 
stories,"  said  Budge,  with  the  air  of  a  man 
indulging  in  an  unsatisfactory  retrospect. 
"There's  always  somethin'  at  the  end  of 
'em  that  spoils  all  the  good  taste  of  'em— 
somethin'  about  bein'  good  little  boys." 

"Aunt  Alice's  stories  haven't  any  such 
endings,"  said  Mr.  Burton,  with  a  sneaking 
desire  to  commit  his  wife  to  a  policy  of  simple 
amusement.  "  She  knows  that  little  boys 
want  to  be  good,  and  she  wants  to  see  them 
happy,  too." 

"Aunt  Alice  will  tell  you  only  what  you 
will  enjoy,  Budge — she  promises  you  that," 
said  Mrs.  Burton.  "  We  will  send  Uncle 
Harry  away  right  after  breakfast  and  then 
you  shall  have  all  the  stories  you  want." 

"  And  cake,  too  ? "  asked  Toddie.  "  Mam 
ma  always  gives  us  cakesh  when  she's  tellin' 
us  stories,  so  we'll  sit  still  an'  not  wriggle 
about." 

"No  cakes,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  kindly  but 
firmly.  "  Eating  between  meals  spoils  the 
digestion  of  little  boys,  and  makes  them  very 
cross." 

"  I  guess  that's  what  was  the  matter  with 
Terry  yesterday,  then,"  said  Budge.  "He 
was  eat  in'  a  bone  between  meals,  out  in  the 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     39 

garden  yesterday  afternoon,  and  when  I  took 
hold  of  his  back  legs  and  tried  to  play  that 
he  was  a  wheelbarrow,  he  bit  me." 

Mr.  Burton  gave  the  dog  Terry  a  sympa 
thetic  pat  and  a  bit  of  meat,  making  him 
stand  on  his  hind  legs  and  beg  for  the  latter, 
to  the  great  diversion  of  the  children.  Then, 
with  an  affectionate  kiss  and  a  look  of  tender 
solicitude  he  wished  his  wife  a  happy  day  and 
hurried  off  to  the  city.  Mrs.  Burton  took 
the  children  into  the  library  and  picked  up 
a  Bible. 

"  What  sort  of  story  would  you  like  first  ? ' ' 
she  asked,  as  she  slowly  turned  the  leaves. 

"  One  'bout  Abraham,  'cause  he  'most 
killed  somebody,"  said  Toddie,  eagerly. 

"Oh,  no,"  said  Budge;  "one  about  Jesus, 
because  He  was  always  good  to  everybody." 

"Dear  child,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton. 
"  Goodness  always  makes  people  nice,  doesn't 
it?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Budge;  "  'cept  when  they  talk 
about  it  to  little  boys.  Say,  Aunt  Alice, 
what  makes  good  folks  always  die?'' 

"  Because  the  Lord  needs  them,  I  suppose, 
Budge." 

'Then  don't  he  need  me?"  asked  Budge, 
with  a  pathetic  look  of  inquiry. 


40       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Certainly,  dear,"  said 'Mrs.  Burton;  "but 
he  wants  you  to  make  other  people  happy 
first.  A  great  many  good  people  are  left  in 
the  world  for  the  same  reason." 

"Then  why  couldn't  Jesus  be  left?"  said 
Budge.  "  He  could  make  people  happier 
than  every  one  else  put  together." 

:'You'll  understand  why,  when  you  grow 
older,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"I  wish  I'd  hurry  up  about  it  and  grow, 
then,"  said  Budge.  "  "\Aliy  can't  little  boys 
grow  just  like  little  flowers  do? — just  be  put 
in  the  ground  an'  watered  and  hoed?  Our 
'sparagus  grows  half-a-foot  in  a  day  almost." 

"You's  a  dyty  boy  to  want  to  be  put  in 
de  dyte,  Budgie,"  said  Toddie,  ''an'  I  isn't 
goin'  to  play  wif  you  any  more.  Mamma 
says  I  mustn't  play  wif  dyty  little  boys." 

''Dirty  boy  yourself!"  retorted  Budge. 
"You  like  to  play  in  the  dirt,  only  you  cry 
whenever  anybody  comes  with  water  to  put 
on  you.  Say,  Aunt  Alice,  how  long  does  peo 
ple  have  to  stay  in  the  ground  when  they  die 
before  they  go  to  heaven  ? ' ' 

"Three  days,  I  suppose,  Budge,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton. 

"An'  does  everybody  that  the  Lord  loves 
go  up  to  heaven  ? ' ' 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     41 

"Yes,  dear." 

"Well,  papa  says  some  folks  believe  that 
dead  people  never  go  to  heaven." 

"  Never  mind  what  they  believe,  Budge. 
You  should  believe  what  you  are  taught," 
said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"  But  I'd  like  to  know  for  sure." 

"  So  you  will,  some  day." 

"  I  wish  'twould  be  pretty  quick  about 
it,  then,"  said  Budge.  "Now  tell  us  a 
story." 

Mrs.  Burton  drew  the  children  nearer  her 
as  she  reopened  the  Bible,  when  she  dis 
covered,  to  her  surprise,  that  Toddie  was 
crying. 

"I  hazhn't  talked  a  bit  for  ever  so  long!" 
he  exclaimed,  in  a  high,  pathetic  tremolo. 

"What  do  you  want  to  say,  Toddie?" 
asked  Mrs.  Burton. 

"I  know  all  'bout  burying  folks — that's 
what, "  said  Toddie.  "  Mamma  tolded  me  all 
'bout  it  one  time,  she  did.  An'  yeshterday 
me  and  Budgie  had  a  funelal  all  by  ourselves. 
We  found  a  dear  little  dead  byde.  An'  we 
w'apped  it  up  in  a  piesh  of  paper,  'cause  a 
baking-powder  box  wazn't  bid  enough  for  a 
coffin,  an'  we  dugged  a  little  grave,  an'  we 
knelted  down  an'  said  a  little  prayer,  an' 


42       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

ashked  de  Lord  to  take  it  up  to  hebben,  an' 
den  we  put  dyte  in  the  grave  an'  planted 
little  flowers  all  over  it.  Dat's  what.  ' 

"  Yes,  an'  we  put  a  little  stone  at  the  head 
of  the  grave,  too,  just  like  big  dead  folks," 
said  Budge.  "  We  couldn't  find  one  with  any 
writ  in'  on  it,  but  I  went  home  and  got  a  pic 
ture-book  an'  cut  out  a  little  picture  of  a  bird, 
an'  stuck  it  on  the  stone  with  some  tar  that  I 
picked  out  of  the  groceryman's  wagon-wheel, 
so  that  when  the  angel  that  takes  spirits  to 
heaven  comes  along,  it  can  see  there's  a  dead 
little  birdie  there  wait  in'  for  him." 

"Yesh,"  added  Toddie,  "an'  little  bydie 
ishn't  like  us,  'Twon't  have  to  wunner  how 
it'll  feel  to  hazh  wings  when  it  gets  to  be  a 
angel,  'cause  'twas  all  used  to  wings  'fore  it 
died." 

"  Birds  don't  go—  '  began  Mrs.  Burton, 
intending  to  correct  the  children's  views  as  to 
the  future  state  of  the  animal  kingdom,  when 
there  flashed  through  her  mind  some  of  the 
wonderings  of  her  own  girlish  days,  and  the 
inability  of  her  riper  experience  to  answer 
them,  so  she  again  postponed,  and  with  a 
renewed  sense  of  its  vastness,  the  duty  of 
reforming  the  opinions  of  her  nephews  on 
things  celestial.  At  about  the  same  time  her 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     43 

cook  sought  an  interview,  and  complained  of 
the  absence  of  twc  of  the  silver  tablespoons. 
Mrs.  Burton  went  into  the  mingled  despond 
ency,  suspicion  and  anger  which  is  the  fre 
quent  condition  of  all  American  women  who 
are  unfortunate  enough  to  have  servants. 


"YES,  AN'  WE  PUT  A  LITTLE   STONE  AT  THE  HEAD  OF  THE 
GRAVE" 

"Where  is  the  chambermaid?"  she  asked. 

"An'  ye's  needn't  be  a-suspectin'  av  her," 
said  the  cook.  "It's  them  av  yer  own  fam 
ily  that  I'm  thinkin'  hez  tuk  'em."  And  the 
cook  glared  suggestively  upon  the  boys. 
Mrs.  Burton  accepted  the  hint. 


44       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  Boys,  have  either  of  you  taken  any  of 
auntie's  spoons  for  anything?" 

"No,"  answered  Toddie,  promptly;  and 
Budge  looked  very  saintly  and  shy,  as  if  he 
knew  something  that,  through  delicacy  of 
feeling  and  not  fear,  he  shrank  from  telling. 

"What  is  it,  Budge?"  asked  Mrs.  Burton. 

"  Why,  you  see,"  said  Budge,  in  the  sweet 
est  of  tones,  "  we  wanted  somethin'  yesterday 
to  dig  the  grave  of  the  birdie  with,  an'  we 
couldn't  think  of  anything  else  so  nice  as 
spoons.  There  was  plenty  of  ugly  old  iron 
ones  lyin'  around,  but  birdies  are  so  sweet 
an'  nice  that  I  wouldn't  have  none  of  'em. 
An'  the  dinner-dishes  was  all  lyin'  there  with 
the  big  silver  spoons  on  top  of  'em,  so  I  just 
got  two  of  'em — they  wasn't  washed  yet,  but 
we  washed  'em  real  clean  so's  to  be  real  nice 
about  everything  so  that  if  the  little  birdie's 
spirit  was  lookin'  at  us  it  wouldn't  be  dis 
gusted." 

"And  where  are  the  spoons  now?"  de 
manded  Mrs.  Burton,  oblivious  to  all  the 
witchery  of  the  child's  spirit  and  appearance. 

"  I  dunno,"  said  Budge,  becoming  an  ordi 
nary  boy  in  an  instant. 

"I  doeszh,"  said  Toddie— -"I  put  'em 
somewherezh,  so  when  we  wanted  to  play 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY      45 

housh  nexsht  time  we  wouldn't  have  to  make 
b'lieve  little  sticks  was  spoons." 

"Show  me  immediately  where  they  are," 
commanded  Mrs.  Burton,  rising  from  her 
chair. 

"  Den  will  you  lend  'em  to  us  nexsht  time 
we  playzh  housh?"  asked  Toddie. 

"No,"  said  Mrs:  Burton,  with  cruel  em 
phasis. 

Toddie  pouted,  rubbed  his  knuckles  into 
his  eyes,  and  led  the  way  to  the  rear  of  the 
garden  where,  in  a  hollow  at  the  base  of  an 
old  apple-tree,  were  the  missing  spoons. 
Wondering  whether  other  valuable  property 
might  not  be  there,  Mrs.  Burton  cautiously 
and  with  a  stick  examined  the  remaining 
contents  of  the  hole,  and  soon  discovered  one 
of  her  damask  napkins. 

"  Datsh  goin'  to  be  our  table-doff,"  ex 
plained  Toddie,  "an'  dat" — this,  as  an  un 
opened  pot  of  French  mustard  was  unearthed 
"ispizzyves"  (preserves). 

Mrs.  Burton  placed  her  property  in  the 
pocket  of  her  apron,  led  her  two  nephews  into 
the  house,  seated  them  with  violence  upon  a 
sofa,  closed  the  doors  noisily,  drew  a  chair 
close  to  the  prisoners,  and  said: 

"Now,  boys,  you  are  to  be  punished  for 


46       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

taking  auntie's  things  out  of  the  house  with 
out  permission." 

"  Don't  want  to  be  shpynkted!"  screamed 
Toddie,  in  a  tone  which  seemed  an  attempt 
at  a  musical  duet  by  a  saw-filer  and  an  un- 
greased  wagon- wheel. 

'You're  not  to  be  whipped,"  continued 
Mrs.  Burton,  "but  you  must  learn  not  to 
touch  things  without  permission.  I  think 
that  to  go  without  your  dinners  would  help 
you  to  remember  that  what  you  have  dono 
is  naughty." 

"  Izhe  'most  'tarved  to  deff,"  exclaimed 
Toddie,  bursting  out  crying.  (N.B.  Break 
fast  has  been  finished  but  a  scant  hour.) 

"  Then  I  will  put  you  into  an  empty  room, 
and  keep  you  there  until  you  are  sure  you 
can  remember." 

Toddie  shrieked  as  if  enduring  the  thousand 
tortures  of  the  Chinese  executioner,  and 
Budge  looked  as  unhappy  as  if  he  were  a 
young  man  in  love  and  in  the  throes  of  re 
luctant  poesy,  but  Mrs.  Burton  led  them  both 
to  the  attic,  and  into  an  empty  room,  placed 
chairs  in  two  corners  and  a  boy  in  each  chair, 
and  said : 

"  Don't  either  of  you  move  out  of  a  chair. 
Just  sit  still  and  think  how  naughty  you've 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     47 

been.  In  an  hour  or  two  I'll  come  back, and 
see  if  you  think  you  can  be  good  boys  here 
after." 

As  Mrs.  Burton  left  the  room,  she  was  fol 
lowed  by  a  shriek  that  seemed  to  pierce  the 
walls  and  be  heard  over  half  the  earth.  Turn 
ing  hastily,  she  saw  that  Toddie,  from  whom 


"DON'T  EITHER  OF  YOU  MOVE  OUT  OP  A  CHAIR'! 

it  had  proceeded,  had  neither  fallen  out  of  his 
chair,  nor  been  seized  by  an  epileptic  fit,  nor 
stung  by  some  venomous  insect ;  so  she  closed 
the  door,  locked  it,  softly  placed  a  chair 
against  it,  sat  down  softly  and  listened. 
There  was  silence  after  the  several  minutes 
required  by  Toddie  to  weary  of  his  crying, 


48       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

and  then  Mrs.  Burton  heard  the  following 
conversation : 

"Tod?" 

"What?" 

"  We  ought  to  do  something! " 

"Chop  Aunt  Alish  into  little  shnipsh  of 
bitsh — datsh  what  I  fink  would  be  nysh." 

"That  would  be  dreadful  naughty,"  said 
Budge,  "after  we've  bothered  her  so!  We 
ought  to  do  something  good,  just  like  big 
folks  when  they've  been  bad." 

"What  doezh  big  folks  do?" 

"Well,  they  read  the  Bible  an'  go  to 
church.  But  you  an'  me  can't  go  to  church, 
'cause  'tain't  Sunday,  an'  we  ain't  got  no 
Bible,  an'  we  wouldn't  know  how  to  read  it  if 
we  had." 

"  Den  don't  letsh  do  noffin'  but  be  awful 
mad,"  said  the  unrepentant  Toddie.  "I'll 
tell  you  what  we  can  do.  Let's  do  like  dat 
Maggydalen  dat  mamma's  got  a  picture  of, 
and  dat  was  bad  an'  got  sorry;  letsh  look 
awful  doleful  and  cwosh.  See  me." 

Toddie  apparently  gave  an  illustration  of 
what  he  thought  the  proper  penitential  coun 
tenance  and  attitude,  for  Budge  exclaimed : 

"  I  don't  think  that  would  look  nice  at  all. 
It  makes  you  look  like  a  dead  puppy-dog 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     49 

with  his  head  turned  to  one  side.  I  '11  tell  you 
what;  we  can't  read  Bibles  like  big  folks,  but 
we  can  tell  stories  out  of  the  Bible,  an'  that's 
bein'  just  as  good  as  if  we  read  'em." 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  Toddie,  repenting  at  once. 
"  Letsh!  I  wantsh  to  be  good  just  awful." 

"Well,  what  shall  we  tell  about?"  asked 
Budge. 

'Bout  when  Jesus  was  a  little  boy,"  said 
Toddie,  "  for  he  was  awful  good." 

"No,"  said  Budge;  "we've  been  naughty, 
an'  we  must  tell  about  somebody  that  was 
awful  naughty.  I  think  old  Pharaoh 's  about 
the  thing." 

"Aw  right,"  said  Toddie.  "Tell  us  'bout 
him." 

"  Well,  once  there  was  a  bad  old  king  down 
in  Egypt,  that  had  all  the  I zzyr elites  there 
an'  made  'em  work,  an'  when  they  didn't 
work  he  had  'em  banged.  But  that  dear 
little  bit  of  a  Moses,  that  lived  in  a  basket  in 
the  river,  grew  up  to  be  a  man,  an'  he  just 
killed  one  of  Pharaoh's  bad  bangers,  an'  then 
he  skooted  an'  hid.  An'  the  Lord  saw  that 
he  was  the  kind  of  man  that  was  good  for 
somethin',  so  he  told  him  he  wanted  him  to 
make  Pharaoh  let  the  poor  Izzyrelites  go 
where  they  wanted  to.  So  Moses  went  and 


5o       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

told  Pharaoh.  An'  Pharaoh  said,  '  No,  you 
don't ! '  Then  Moses  went  an'  told  the  Lord, 
an'  the  Lord  got  angry,  and  turned  all  the 
water  in  the  river  into  blood." 

"My!"  said  Toddie.  "Then  if  anybody 
wanted  to  look  all  bluggy,  all  he  had  to  do 
was  to  go  in  bavin',  wasn't  it  ? " 

"But  he  wouldn't  let  'em  go  then,"  con 
tinued  Budge.  "  So  the  Lord  made  frogs 
hop  out  of  all  the  rivers  an'  mud-puddles 
everywhere,  and  they  went  into  all  the  houses 
an*  folks  couldn't  keep  'em  out." 

"  I  just  wis  mamma  an'  me'd  been  in 
Egypt ,  den , "  said  Toddie .  ' '  Den  she  couldn ' t 
make  me  leave  my  hop-toads  out  of  doors,  if 
de  Lord  wanted  'em  to  stay  in  de  house.  I 
loves  hop-toads.  I  f wallowed  one  de  uvver 
day,  an'  it  went  way  down  my  'tomach." 

"Didn't  it  kick  inside  of  you?"  asked 
Budge,  with  natural  interest. 

"  No-o ! ' '  said  Toddie.  "  I  bited  him  in  two 
fyst.  But  he  growed  togevver  ag'in,  an' dzust 
hopped  right  out  froo  de  top  of  my  head." 

"Let's  see  the  hole  he  came  out  of?"  said 
Budge,  starting  across  the  floor. 

"  It  all  growded  up  again  right  away, "  said 
Toddie,  in  haste,  "an'  you's  a  bad  boy  to  get 
out  of  your  chair  when  Aunt  Alice  told  you 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY      51 

not  to,  and  you's  got  to  tell  annuvver  story 
'bout  naughty  folks  to  pay  for  it.  Gwon!" 

Budge  returned  to  his  chair,  and  continued : 

"An'  old  Pharaoh  went  down  to  Moses's 
house  an'  said,  'Ask  the  Lord  to  make  the 
frogs  hop  away,  an'  you  can  have  your  old 
Izzyrelites — I  don't  want  'em.'  So  the  Lord 
done  it,  an'  all  the  glad  old  Pharaoh  was,  was 
only  'cause  he  got  rid  of  'em;  an'  he  kept  the 
Izzyrelites  some  more.  Then  the  Lord  thought 
he'd  fix  'em  sure,  so  he  turned  all  the  dirt  into 
nasty  bugs." 

"  What  did  little  boys  do  den,  dat  wanted 
dyte  to  make  mud-pies  of?"  asked  Toddie. 

"  Well,  the  bugs  was  only  made  out  of  dry 
dirt,"  exclaimed  Budge;  "just  dust  like  we 
kick  up  in  the  street,  you  know." 

"  Oh,"  said  Toddie.  "  I  wonder  if  any  of 
dem  bugs  was  'tato-bugs  ? ' ' 

"  I  dunno,  but  some  of  'em  was  the  kind 
that  mammas  catch  with  fine  combs  after 
their  little  boys  have  been  playin'  with  dirty 
children.  An'  Pharaoh's  smart  men,  that 
thought  they  could  do  everythin',  found  they 
couldn't  make  them  bugs." 

"Why-y-y,"  drawled  Toddie,  "did  Pha 
raoh  want  some  more  of  'em  ? ' ' 

"  No,  I  s'pose  not,  but  he  stayed  bad,  so  he 


52       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

had  to  catch  it  again.  The  Lord  sent  whole 
swarms  of  flies  to  Egypt,  an'  there  wasn't  any 
mosquito-nets  in  that  country  either.  An' 
then  Pharaoh  got  good  again,  an'  the  Lord 
took  the  flies  away,  an  Pharaoh  got  bad  again, 
so  the  Lord  made  all  the  horses  an'  cows 
awful  sick,  an'  they  all  died." 

"Then  couldn't  Pharaoh  go  out  ridin'  at 
all?" 

"  No.  He  had  to  walk,  even  if  he  wanted 
to  get  to  the  depot  in  an  awful  hurry.  An'  it 
made  him  so  mad  that  he  said  the  Izzyrelites 
shouldn't  go  anyhow.  So  Moses  took  a 
handful  of  ashes  an'  threw  it  up  in  the  air 
before  Pharaoh,  an'  everybody  in  all  Egypt 
got  sore  with  boils  right  away." 

"Ow!"  said  Toddie,  "I  had  some  nashty 
boils  oncesh,  but  I  didn't  know  ashes  made 
'em .  I  '11  'member  that . ' ' 

"An'  Pharaoh  said  'no!'  again,  so  he  got 
some  more  bothers.  The  Lord  made  great 
big  lumps  of  ice  tumble  down  out  of  heaven, 
an'  he  made  the  thunder  go  bang,  an'  the 
lightnin'  ran  around  the  ground  like  our 
fizzers  did  last  Fourth  of  July,  an'  it  spoiled 
all  the  growing  things." 

"Strawberries?"  queried  Toddie. 

"Yes." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     53 

"An'  dear  little  panzhies?" 

"Yes." 

"Poo'  old  Pharo'!     Gwon." 

"Then  Pharaoh's  friends  began  to  tell  him 


BUT  I  DIDN  T  KNOW  ASHES  MADE     EM 


he  was  bein'  a  goose,  thinkin'  he  could  be 
stronger  than  the  Lord,  an'  Pharaoh  kind  o' 
thought  so  himself.  So  he  told  Moses  that 
the  men-folks  of  the  Izzyrelites  might  go 
away  if  they  wanted  to,  but  nobody  else." 


54       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Mean  old  fing!  Who  did  he  fink  was 
goin'  to  cook  fings — an'  go  to  school?" 

"  I  dunno,  but  I  guess  he  had  a  chance  to 
think  about  it,  for  the  Lord  made  whole 
crowds  of  locusts  come.  Them's  grasshop 
pers,  you  know,  an'  they  ate  up  every  thin' 
in  all  the  gardens,  an'  the  folks  got  half  crazy 
about  it." 

"Den  I  guesh  dey  didn't  tell  their  little 
boysh  that  they  mushn't  kill  gwasshoppers, 
like  mamma  doesh.  Wish  I'd  been  dere! 
What  did  he  do  den?" 

"  Oh,  he  was  a  selfish  old  pig,  just  like  he 
was  before,  so  the  Lord  said,  '  Moses,  just 
hold  your  hand  up  to  the  sky  a  minute.'  An' 
Moses  did  it,  and  then  it  got  darker  in  Egypt 
than  it  is  in  our  coal -bin.  Folks  couldn't  see 
anythin'  anywhere,  an'  wherever  they  was 
when  it  growed  dark,  they  had  to  stay  for 
three  whole  days  an'  nights." 

"Gwacious!"  Toddie  exclaimed.  "Would 
n't  it  be  drefful  if  Moses  was  to  go  an'  hold  his 
hand  up  in  the  sky  \vhile  we's  a-sittin'  in 
dezhe  chairzh  ?  Mebbe  he  will !  Let 's  holler 
for  Aunt  Alish ! ' ' 

"  Oh,  he  can't  do  it  now7,  'cause  he's  dead. 
Besides  that,  we  ain't  keepin'  any  Izzyrelites 
from  doin'  what  thev  want  to.  Old  Pharaoh 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     55 

got  awful  frightened  then,  an'  told  Moses  he 
might  take  all  the  people  away,  but  they 
mustn't  take  their  things  with  'em — the  self 
ish  old  fellow!  But  Moses  knew  how  hard 
the  poor  Izzyrelites  had  to  work  for  the  few 
things  they  had,  so  he  said  they  wouldn't  go 
unless  they  could  carry  everythin'  they  owned. 
An'  that  made  Pharaoh  mad,  an'  he  said, 
'Get  out!  If  I  catch  you  here  again  I'll  kill 
you ! '  An '  Moses  said , '  Don 't  trouble  yourself ; 
you  won't  see  me  again  unless  you  want  me. ' ' 

"Shouldn't  fink  he  would,"  said  Toddie. 
"  Nobody's  goin'to  vizhit  kings dzust  to  have 
deir  heads  cutted  off.  Even  our  shickens 
knows  enough  not  to  come  to  Mike  when  he 
wants  to  cut  deir  heads  off.  Gwon ! ' ' 

"  Well,  then  the  Lord  told  Moses  somethin' 
that  must  have  made  him  feel  awful.  He 
told  him  that  next  night  every  biggest  boy  in 
every  family  was  goin'  to  be  killed  by  an 
angel.  Ain't  I  glad  I  didn't  live  there  then! 
I'd  like  to  see  an  angel,  but  not  if  that's  what 
he  wants  to  do  with  me.  What  would  you 
do  if  an  angel  was  to  kill  me,  Tod?" 

"I'd  have  all  your  marbles,"  Toddie  an 
swered,  promptly,  "and  the  goat-cawwiage 
would  be  all  mine.  Gwon! " 

"  Well,  the  Lord  told  Moses  about  it,  an' 


56       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

Moses  told  the  folks;  an'  he  told  'em  all  to 
kill  a  little  lamb,  an'  dip  their  fingers  in  the 
blood,  an'  make  a  cross  on  their  door-posts, 
so  when  the  angel  came  along  an'  saw  it  he 
wouldn't  kill  the  biggest  boy  in  their  houses. 
An'  that  night  down  came  the  angel,  an' 
everybody  woke  up  an'  cried  awful — worse 
than  you  did  when  you  fell  down-stairs  the 
other  day,  because  all  the  biggest  died.  You 
couldn't  go  anywhere  without  hearin'  papas 
an'  mammas  cry  in'." 

"Did  dey  all  have  funerals  den? " 

"Of  course." 

"Gwacious!  Den  the  little  'Gyptian  boys 
dat  didn't  get  killed  could  look  at  deaders  all 
day  long!  What  did  Pharo'  do  'bout  it 
den?" 

"  He  sent  right  after  Moses  an'  his  brother, 
in  a  hurry,  an'  he  told  'em  that  he'd  been  a 
bad  king — -just  as  if  they  didn't  know  that 
already!  An'  he  told  'em  to  take  all  the 
Izzyrelites,  an'  all  their  things,  an'  go  right 
straight  away — he  was  in  such  a  hurry  that 
he  didn't  even  invite  Moses  to  the  funeral, 
though  he  had  a  dead  biggest  boy  himself. 
An'  all  the  Egyptian  people  came  too,  and 
begged  the  Izzyrelites  to  hurry  an'  go— -they 
didn't  see  what  they  was  waitin'  for.  They 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     57 

was  so  glad  to  get  rid  of  'em  that  they  lent 
'em  anything  they  wanted." 

"Pies  an 'cakes?" 

"  No ! ' '  said  Budge,  contemptuously.  "  You 
don't  s'pose  folks  that's  goin'  off  travelin'  for 
forty  years  is  goin'  to  think  'bout  eatin'  first 
thing,  do  you?  They  borrowed  clothes,  an' 
money,  an'  everything  else  they  could  get,  an' 
left  the  Egyptians  awful  poor.  An 'off  they 
started.'* 

"Did  they  have  a  'scursion  train?" 

"  No !  All  the  excursion  trains  in  the 
world  couldn't  have  held  such  lots  of  people. 
They  rode  on  camels  and  donkeys,  but  lots  of 
'em  walked." 

"  I  don't  think  that  was  a  bit  of  fun." 

"  You  would  have,"  said  Budge,  "  if  you'd 
always  had  to  work  like  everything.  Don't 
you  'member  how  once  when  mamma  made 
you  work,  an'  carry  away  all  the  blocks  you 
brought  up  on  the  piazza  from  the  new 
buildin'  ?  You  walked  'way  off  to  the  village 
to  get  rid  of  it." 

"Ye— es,"  drawled  Toddie,  "but  I  knew 
I'd  be  rided  back  when  dey  came  to  look  for 
me.  Den  what  did  they  do  ?" 

"They  started  to  travel  to  a  nice  country 
that  the  Lord  had  told  Moses  about,  an'  they 


58       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

got  along  till  they  came  to  a  pretty  big  ocean 
where  there  wasn't  any  ferry-boats.  I  don't 
see  what  Moses  took  'em  to  such  a  place  as 
that  for,  unless  the  Lord  wanted  to  show  'em 
that  no  ferry-boats  could  get  the  best  of  Him, 
when  all  of  a  sudden  they  saw  an  awful  lot  of 
dust  bein'  kicked  up  behind  'em,  an'  some 
body  said  that  Pharaoh  was  a-comin'." 

"Should  fink  he'd  seen  'nough  of  'em," 
said  Toddie.  "  Did  he  come  down  to  the 
boat  to  wave  his  hanafitch  good -by  at  'em?" 

"  No,  he  knew  there  wasn't  any  boats 
there,  an'  so  he  came  to  take  'em  back  again 
an'  make  'em  work  some  more." 

"  Should  fink  he'd  be  afraid  de  Lord  would 
kill  him  next." 

"  P'r'aps  he  did;  but  then,  you  see,  he  was 
awful  lazy,  an'  didn't  like  to  work  for  him 
self  ;  papa  says  there's  lots  of  folks  that  would 
rather  be  killed  than  do  any  work." 

"Den  what  d'  de  lazy  folks  do?  They 
can't  catch  any  Izzyrelites,  can  they?" 

"  No,"  said  Budge,  "  but  they  can  do  what 
the  Izzyrelites  done  themselves — they  bor 
row  other  people's  money.  Well,  when  the 
folks  saw  that  'twas  Pharaoh  a-comin',  they 
began  to  grunt,  an  pitch  into  poor  Moses,  an' 
told  him  he  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  hisseli 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     59 

to  bring  'em  away  off  there  to  be  killed,  when 
they  might  have  died  in  Egypt  without  havin' 
to  walk  so  far.  But  Moses  said:  ' Shut  your 
mouth,  will  you?  The  Lord's  doin'  this  job.' 
Then  the  Lord  said :  '  Moses,  lift  up  your  cane 
an 'point  across  the  water  with  it!'  An 'the 


SPLASHIN     IN   THE   BATHTUB 


minute  Moses  done  that,  the  water  of  that 
ocean  went  way  up  on  one  side,  and  way  up 
on  the  other  side— just  like  it  does  in  the 
bathtub  sometimes  when  we're  splashin',  you 
know — and  there  was  a  path  right  through 
the  bottom  of  that  ocean.  An'  the  people  just 
skooted  right  along  it ! " 


60       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Did  they  put  on  their  rubbers  fyst? 
'Cause  if  they  didn't  there  must  have  been  lots 
of  little  boys  spanked  when  they  got  across 
for  gettin'  their  shoes  muddy." 

"I  don't  know  about  that, ' '  said  Budge,  after 
a  slight  pause  for  reflection.  "  I  must  'mem 
ber  to  ask  papa  about  that .  But  when  they  all 
got  over  they  began  to  grumble  some  more,  for 
along  came  Pharaoh's  army  right  after  'em." 

"  I  fink  they  was  a  lot  of  good-for-nothing 
cry-babies,"  Toddie  exclaimed. 

"Huh!"  grunted  Budge.  "I  guess  you'd 
have  yowled  if  you'd  have  been  trudgin' 
along  through  the  mud  ever  so  long,  an'  then 
seen  some  soldiers  an'  chariots  an'  spears  an' 
bows  an'  arrows  comin'  to  kill  you.  But  the 
Lord  knew  just  how  to  manage.  He  always 
did.  Papa  says  He  always  comes  in  when 
you  think  He  can't.  He  said  to  Moses,  '  Lift 
up  your  cane  an'  point  it  across  the  ocean 
again. '  An'  Moses  done  it,  an'  down  came 
that  big  fence  of  water  on  both  sides  ker 
swosh!  An'  it  drown ded  old  Pharaoh  an' 
the  whole  good-for-nothin'  lot." 

''  Then  did  the  Izzyrelites  go  to  cry  in'  some 
more  ? ' ' 

"Not  much!  They  all  got  together  an' 
had  a  big  sing." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     61 

"I  know  what  they  sung,"  said  Toddie. 
'They  all  sung  '  TurnbackPharo 'sarmy- 
hallelujah.'" 

"No,  they  didn't,"  said  Budge.  "They 
sung  that  splendid  thing  mamma  sings  some 
times,  'Sound  the — loud  tim — brel  o'er — 
Egypt's— Egypt's  dark- 
Budge  had  with  great  difficulty  repeated 
the  line  of  the  glorious  old  anthem,  then  he 
broke  down  and  burst  out  crying. 

"  What 's  you  cry  in'  about  ? ' '  asked  Toddie. 
"Is  you  play  in'  you's  an  Izzyrelite?" 

"  No,"  said  Budge ;  "  but  whenever  I  think 
about  that  song,  somethin'  comes  up  in  my 
throat  and  makes  me  cry." 

The  door  of  the  room  flew  open,  there  was 
a  rustle  and  a  hurried  tread,  and  Mrs.  Burton, 
her  face  full  of  tears,  snatched  Budge  to  her 
breast,  and  kissed  him  repeatedly,  while 
Toddie  remarked : 

"  When  fings  come  up  in  my  froat  I  just 
f wallows  'em." 

Mrs.  Burton  conducted  her  nephews  to  the 
parlor  floor,  and  said: 

"Now,  little  boys,  it's  nearly  lunch  time, 
and  I  am  going  to  have  you  nicely  washed 
and  dressed,  so  that  if  any  one  comes  in  you 
will  look  like  little  gentlemen." 


62       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Ain't  we  to  be  punished  any  more  for 
bein'  bad?"  asked  Budge. 

"No,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  kindly;  "I'm 
going  to  trust  you  to  remember  and  be 
good." 

"  That  isn't  what  bothers  me, "  said  Budge; 
"  I  told  a  great,  long  Bible  story  to  Tod  up 
stairs,  so's  to  be  like  big  folks  when  they  get 
bad,  as  much  as  I  could.  But  Tod  didn't  tell 
any;  I  don't  think  he's  got  his  punish." 

"  He  may  tell  his  to-night,  after  Uncle 
Harry  gets  home,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"  An'  sit  in  a  chair  in  the  corner  of  the  up 
stairs  room?"  asked  Budge. 

"  I  hardly  think  that  will  be  necessary  this 
time,"  answered  the  lady. 

"  Then  I  don't  think  you  punish  fair  a  bit, " 
said  Budge,  with  an  aggrieved  pout. 

"I'll  be  dzust  as  sad  as  I  can  'bout  it, 
Budgie,"  said  Toddie,  with  a  brotherly  kiss. 

The  boys  were  led  off  by  the  chambermaid 
to  be  dressed  and  Mrs.  Burton  seated  herself 
and  devoted  herself  to  earnest  thought. 
Time  was  flying,  her  husband  had  been  be 
tween  dark  and  breakfast-time  most  exas- 
peratingly  solicitous  as  to  the  success  of  his 
wife's  theories  of  government,  and  not  even 
her  genius  of  self-defense  had  prevailed 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     63 

against  him.  She  felt  that  so  far  she  had 
been  steadily  vanquished.  Her  husband 
had  told  her  in  other  days  that  it  was  always 
so  with  the  best  generals  in  their  first  en 
gagements,  so  she  determined  that  if  men 
had  snatched  victory  from  the  jaws  of  defeat, 
she  should  be  able  to  do  so  as  well.  Her 
desperation  at  the  thought  of  a  long  lifetime 
of  "  I  told  you  so's"  from  her  husband  made 
her  determine'that  no  discomfort  should  pre 
vent  the  most  earnest  endeavor  for  success. 

The  luncheon  bell  aroused  her  from  what 
had  become  a  reverie  in  the  valley  of  humili 
ation,  and  she  found  awaiting  her  at  the  table 
her  nephews — Budge  in  a  jaunty  sailor-suit 
and  Toddie  in  a  clean  dress  and  an  immacu 
late  white  apron.  An  old  experience  caused 
her  to  promptly  end  some  researches  of  Tod- 
die's,  instituted  to  discover  whether  his  aunt's 
dishes  were  really  "  turtle-pyates,"  and  an 
attempt  by  Budge  to  drop  oysters  in  the 
mouth  of  the  dog  Terry,  as  he  had  seen  his 
uncle  do  with  bread-crusts  in  the  morning, 
was  forcibly  brought  to  a  close.  Beyond  the 
efforts  alluded  to,  the  children  did  nothing 
worse  than  people  in  good  society  often  do  at 
table.  After  luncheon,  Mrs.  Burton  said: 

"  Now,  boys,  this  is  Aunt  Alice's  reception- 


64       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

day.  I  will  probably  have  several  calls,  and 
every  one  will  want  to  know  about  that  dear 
little  new  baby,  and  you  must  be  there  to  tell 
them.  So  you  must  keep  yourselves  very 
neat  and  clean.  I  know  you  wouldn't  like  to 
see  any  dirty  people  in  my  parlor ! ' ' 

"  Hatesh  to  shtay  in  parlors,"  said  Toddie. 
"  Wantsh  to  go  and  get  some  jacks  "  ("  Jack- 
in-the-pulpit "  —  a  swamp  plant). 

"Not  to-day,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  kindly, 
but  firmly.  "  No  one  with  nice  white  aprons 
ever  goes  for  jacks.  What  would  you  think 
if  you  saw  me  in  a  swampy,  muddy  place, 
with  a  nice  white  apron  on,  hunting  for 
jacks!" 

"Why,  I'd  fink  you  could  bring  home 
more'n  me,  'cause  your  apron  would  hold  the 
mosht,"  Toddie  replied. 

"I'll  tell  you  what,"  said  Budge,  calling 
Toddie  into  a  corner  and  whispering  earnestly 
to  him.  The  purity  of  Budge's  expression  of 
countenance  and  the  tender  shyness  with 
which  he  avoided  her  gaze  when  he  noticed 
that  it  was  upon  him,  caused  Mrs.  Burton  to 
instinctively  turn  her  head  away,  out  of  re 
spect  for  what  she  believed  to  be  a  childish 
secret  of  some  very  tender  order.  Glancing 
at  the  couple  again  for  only  a  second,  she  saw 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     65 

that  Toddie,  too,  seemed  rather  less  matter- 
of-fact  than  usual .  Finally  both  boys  started 
out  of  the  doorway,  Budge  turning  and  re 
marking  with  inflections  simply  angelic: 

"  Will  be  back  pretty  soon,  Aunt  Alice." 

Mrs.  Burton  proceeded  to  dress;  she  idly 
touched  her  piano,  until  one  lady  after  anoth 
er  called,  and  occupied  her  time.  Suddenly, 
while  trying  to  form  a  good  impression  on  a 
very  dignified  lady  of  the  old  school,  both 
boys  marched  into  the  parlor  from  the  dining- 
room.  Mrs.  Burton  motioned  them  violently 
away,  for  Budge's  trousers  and  Toddie 's 
apron  were  as  dirty  as  they  well  could  be. 
Neither  boy  saw  the  visitor,  however,  for  she 
was  hidden  by  one  of  the  wings  which  held 
the  folding-doors,  so  both  tramped  up  to  their 
aunt,  while  Budge  exclaimed: 

"  Folks  don't  go  to  heaven  the  second  day, 
anyhow,  for  we  just  dug  up  the  bird  to  see, 
an'  he  was  there  just  the  same." 

"  And  dere  wazh  lots  of  little  ants  dere  wiv 
him,"  said  Toddie.  "  Is  dat  'cause  dey  want 
to  got  to  hebben,  too,  an'  wantsh  somebody 
wif  wings  to  help  'em  up?" 

"  Budge!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton,  in  chill 
ing  tones ;  "  how  did  all  this  dirt  come  on  your 
clothes  ? ' ' 


66       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Why,  you  see,"  said  the  boy,  edging  up 
confidentially  to  his  aunt,  and  resting  his 
elbows  on  her  knee  as  he  looked  up  into  her 
face,  "  I  couldn't  bear  to  put  the  dear  little 
birdie  in  the  ground  again  without  say  in' 
another  little  prayer.  And  I  forgot  to  brush 
my  knees  off." 

"  Toddie,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "  you  couldn't 
have  knelt  down  with  your  stomach  and 
breast.  How  did  you  get  your  nice  white 
apron  so  dirty?" 

Toddie  looked  at  the  apron  and  then  at 
his  aunt — looked  at  a  picture  or  two,  and 
then  at  the  piano — followed  the  cornice-line 
with  his  eye,  seemed  suddenly  to  find  what 
he  was  looking  for,  and  replied: 

"Do  you  fink  dat  apron's  dyty?  Well,  I 
don't.  Tell  you  watsh  de  matter  wif  it — I 
fink  de  white's  gropped  off." 

"Go  into  the  kitchen!"  Mrs.  Burton  com 
manded,  and  both  boys  departed  with  heavy 
pouts  where  pretty  lips  should  have  been. 
Half  an  hour  later  their  uncle,  who  had  come 
home  early  with  the  laudable  desire  of  meet 
ing  some  of  his  wife's  acquaintances,  found 
his  nephew  Toddy  upon  the  scaffolding  of  an 
unfinished  residence  half-way  between  his 
own  residence  and  the  railway  station.  Re- 


"JUMP!"  SHOUTED  MR.  BURTON 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     67 

membering  the  story,  dear  to  all  makers  of 
school  reading-books,  of  the  boy  whose  sailor 
father  saw  him  perched  upon  the  mainyard, 
Mr.  Burton  stood  beneath  the  scaffolding  and 
shouted  to  Toddie: 

"Jump!" 

"I  can't,"  screamed  Toddie. 

;'Jump!"  shouted  Mr.  Burton,  with  in 
creased  energy. 

'Tell  you  I  can't,"  repeated  Toddie. 
"  Wezh  playin'  Tower  of  Babel,  an'  hazh  had 
our  talks  made  different  like  de  folks  did 
den,  an'  when  I  tells  Budge  to  bring  buicksh, 
he  only  buingzh  mortar,  an'  when  I  wantsh 
mortar  he  buings  buicksh.  An'  den  we  talksh 
like  you  an'  Aunt  Alice  did  yestuday  at  de 
table." 

'  Yes,"  said  Budge,  appearing  from  the  in 
side  of  the  building  with  an  armful  of  blocks. 
'Just  listen."  And  the  young  man  chat 
tered  for  a  moment  or  two  in  a  dialect  never 
even  dimly  hinted  at  except  by  a  convention 
of  monkeys. 

Mr.  Burton  cautiously  climbed  the  lad 
der,  brought  down  one  boy  at  a  time,  kissed 
them  both  and  shook  them  soundly,  after 
which  the  three  wended  homeward,  the  boys 
having  sawdust  on  every  portion  of  their 


68       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

clothes  not  already  soiled  by  dirt,  and  most 
of  Mrs.  Burton's  callers  meeting  the  party 
en  route. 

Mr.  Burton  found  his  wife  brilliantly  con 
versational,  yet  averse  to  talking  about  her 
nephews.  The  exercise  which  they  had  been 
compelled  to  take  in  their  emulation  of  the 
architects  of  the  incomplete  building  on  the 
plain  of  Shinar  gave  them  excellent  appetites 
and  silenced  tongues;  but  after  his  capacity 
had  been  tested  to  the  uttermost  Budge  said : 

"It's  time  for  Tod  to  do  his  punishment 
now,  Aunt  Alice.  Don't  you  know?" 

Mrs.  Burton  winked  at  her  husband,  and 
nodded  approvingly  to  Budge. 

"Come,  Tod,"  said  Budge,  "you  must  tell 
your  awful  sad  story  now,  an'  feel  bad." 

"Guesh  I'll  tell  'bout  Peter  Gray,"  said 
Toddie ;  ' '  thatsh  awful  sad . " 

"Who  was  Peter  Gray?"  asked  Mrs.  Bur 
ton. 

"  He's  a  dzentleman  dat  a  dyty  little  boy 
in  the  nexsht  street  to  us  sings  'bout,"  said 
Toddie,  "  only  I  don't  sing  'bout  him — I  only 
tellsh  it.  It's  dzust  as  sad  that-a-way." 

"Go  on,"  said  Budge. 

"Once  was  a  man,"  said  Toddie,  with 
great  solemnity,  "  an'  his  name  was  Peter 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     69 

Gray.  An'  he  loved  a  lady.  An'  he  says  to 
her  papa, '  I  wantsh  to  marry  your  little  gyle.' 
An'  what  you  fink  dat  papa  said?  He  said, 
'No!'"  (this  with  great  emphasis).  "That 
izhn't  as  hard  as  he  said  it,  eiver,  but  it's  azh 
hard  as  I  can  say  it.  It's  pumkly  dzedful 
when  Jimmy  sings  it.  An'  Peter  Gray  felt 
awful  bad  den,  an'  he  went  out  Wesht,  to  buy 
de  shkinzh  dat  comes  off  of  animals  an'  fings, 
dough  how  dat  made  him  feel  nicer  Jimmy 
don't  sing  'bout.  An'  bad  Injuns  caught 
him  an'  pulled  his  hair  off,  djust  like  ladies 
pull  deirsh  off  sometimezh.  An'  when  dat 
lady  heard  'bout  it,  it  made  her  feel  so  bad 
dat  she  went  to  bed  an'  died.  Datsh  all. 
Uncle  Harry,  ain't  you  got  to  be  punished 
for  somefin',  so  you  can  tell  ush  a  story?" 

"It's  time  little  boys  were  in  bed  now," 
said  Mrs.  Burton,  arising  and  taking  Toddie 
in  her  arms. 

"  Oh,  dear ! ' '  said  Budge.  "  I  wish  I  was  a 
little  boy  in  China,  an'  just  gettin'  up." 

"  So  does  I,"  said  Toddie;  "  'cause  den  you 
would  have  a  tay-al  on  your  head  an'  I  could 
pull  it!" 

The  boys  retired,  and  Mrs.  Burton  broke 
her  reticence  so  far  as  to  tell  her  husband  the 
story  she  had  heard  in  the  morning,  and  to 


70       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

insist  that  he  was  to  arise  early  enough  in  the 
morning  to  unearth  the  buried  bird  and 
throw  it  away. 

"It's  perfectly  dreadful,"  said  she,  "that 
those  children  should  be  encouraged  in  mak 
ing  trifling  applications  of  great  truths,  and 
I  am  determined,  as  far  as  possible,  to  pre 
vent  the  effects  by  removing  the  causes." 

And  her  husband  put  on  an  exasperating 
smile  and  shook  his  head  profoundly. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     71 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  sun  of  the  next  morning  arose  at  the 
outrageously  unfashionable  hour  that 
he  affects  in  June,  but  Mrs.  Burton  was  up 
before  him.  Her  husband  had  attended  a 
town  meeting  the  night  before,  and  the  fore 
fathers  of  the  hamlet  had  been  so  voluble 
that  Mr.  Burton  had  not  returned  home  until 
nearly  midnight.  He  needed  rest,  and  his 
wife  determined  that  he  should  sleep  as  long 
as  possible;  but  there  were  things  dearer  to 
her  than  even  the  comfort  of  her  husband, 
and  among  these  were  the  traditions  she  had 
received  concerning  things  mystical.  She 
had  an  intuition  that  her  nephews  would  ex 
amine  the  grave  of  the  bird  they  had  interred 
two  days  before,  and  she  dreaded  to  listen  to 
the  literal  conversation  and  comments  that 
would  surely  follow.  Had  the  bird  been  a 
human  being,  the  remarks  of  its  tender 
hearted  little  friends  would  have  seemed  any 
thing  but  materialistic  to  Mrs.  Burton;  but 
it  was  only  a  bird,  and  the  lady  realized  that 
to  answer  questions  as  to  the  soullessness  of 
an  innocent  being  and  the  comparative  value 


72       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

of  characterless  men  and  women  was  going 
to  be  no  easy  task. 

She  therefore  perfected  a  plan  which  should 
be  fair  to  all  concerned ;  she  would  arouse  her 
husband  only  when  she  heard  her  nephews 
moving;  then  she  would  engage  the  young 
men  in  conversation  while  her  husband  dese 
crated  the  grave.  She  would  have  saved  con 
siderable  trouble  by  locking  the  young  men  in 
their  chamber  and  allowing  her  husband  to 
slumber  content,  but  having  failed  to  remove 
the  key  on  the  advent  of  the  boys  they  had 
found  use  for  it  themselves,  and  no  question 
ing  had  been  able  to  discover  its  whereabouts. 
Meanwhile  the  boys  were  quiet,  and  Mrs. 
Burton  devoted  the  peaceful  moments  to  lay 
ing  out  the  day  in  such  a  manner  as  to  have 
the  least  possible  trouble  from  her  nephews. 

A  violent  kicking  at  the  front  door  and 
some  vigorous  rings  of  the  bell  aroused  the 
lady  from  her  meditation  and  her  husband 
from  his  dreams,  while  the  dog  Terry,  who 
usually  slept  on  the  inner  mat  at  the  front 
door,  began  to  howl  piteously. 

" Goodness!"  growled  Mr.  Burton,  rubbing 
his  eyes,  as  his  wife  pulled  the  bell-cord  lead 
ing  to  the  servants'  room.  "  To  whom  do  we 
owe  money  ? ' ' 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     73 

"Oh,  I'm  afraid  Helen  is  worse,  or  the 
baby  is  poorly!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton, 
opening  the  chamber-window,  and  shouting, 
"Who  is  there?" 

"Me,"  answered  a  voice  easily  recogniza 
ble  as  that  of  Budge. 

"  Me,  too ! ' '  screamed  a  thinner  but  equally 
familiar  voice. 

"  We've  got  somethin'  awful  lovely  to  tell 
you,  Aunt  Alice,"  shouted  Budge.  "Let  us 
in,  quick!" 

"Lovelier  dan  cake  or  pie  or  candy!" 
screamed  Toddie. 

One  of  the  servants  hurried  down  the  stairs, 
the  door  opened,  light  footsteps  hurried  up 
the  steps,  and  the  dog  Terry,  pausing  for  no 
morning  caress  from  his  master,  hurried  un 
der  the  bed  for  refuge,  from  which  locality  he 
expressed  his  apprehension  in  a  dismal  fal 
setto.  Then,  with  a  tramp  which  only  chil 
dren  can  execute,  and  which  horses  cannot 
approach  in  noisiness,  came  Budge  and 
Toddie.  Arrived  at  their  aunt's  chamber- 
door,  each  boy  tried  to  push  the  other  away, 
that  he  might  himself  tell  the  story  of  which 
both  were  full.  At  last,  from  the  outer  side 
of  the  door: 

"  Dear  little  bydie's  gone  to  hebben." 


74       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  Yes,"  said  Budge,  "the  angels  took  him 
away." 

"An1  de  little  ants  all  went  to  hebben  wif 
him,"  said  Toddie. 

"  Only  the  angels  didn't  take  the  grave 
stone,  too,"  said  Budge.  "  Say,  Aunt  Alice, 
what's  the  use  of  gravestones  after  folks  is 
gone  to  heaven  ? ' ' 

"  I  know,"  said  Toddie.  "  I  fought  every 
body  knowed  dat;  it's  so's  folks  know  where 
to  plant  lovely  flowers  for  deir  angel  what  was 
in  the  grave  to  look  down  at." 

"Now,"  said  Budge,  with  the  air  of  a 
champion  of  a  newly  discovered  doctrine, 
"I'm  just  goin'  to  ask  papa  who  the  folks  are 
that  don't  believe  deaders  go  to  heaven.  I'll 
jist  tell  'em  what  geese  they  are." 

"Angels  is  dzust  like  birdies,  isn't  they, 
Aunt  Alice?"  Toddie  asked.  '  'Cause  dey's 
got  winghs  an'  clawshes,  too." 

"How  do  you  know  they  have  claws?" 
asked  Mr.  Burton. 

'  'Cause  I  saw  deir  scratch-holes  in  the 
dyte  at  the  grave,"  said  Toddie.  "  Dey  was 
dzust  little  bits  of  scratchy  cracks  like  little 
bydies  make.  I  guesh  dey  was  little  baby- 
angels." 

Mr.  Burton  winked  at  his  wife,  who  was 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY      75 


looking  greatly  mystified,  and  he  uttered  the 
single  monosyllable: 

"Cats." 

"  How  did  you  get  out  of  the  house,  chil 
dren?"  Mr.  Burton  asked. 

;'  Jumped  out  of  one  of  the  kitchen  win 
dows,"  said  Budge.  "But  it  was  so  high 
from  the  ground  that  we  couldn't  get  in  again 
that  way.  And  I  think  it's  breakfast-time; 
we've  been  up  'bout  two  hours." 

"  Now's  the  time  for 
orthodox    teaching, 
my  dear,"  sug 
gested  Mr.  Bur 
ton.     "  Physi 
ologists  say 
that  the  mind 
is  more  active 
when     the 
stomach's  empty." 

'Thank  you,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  starting 
for  the  kitchen,  "  but  the  minds  of  those  boys 
are  too  active,  even  on  full  stomachs." 

Breakfast  was  on  the  table  in  due  time, 
and  the  boys  showed  appreciation  of  it. 
After  they  were  partly  satisfied,  however, 
Budge  asked: 

"  Aunt  Alice,  how  much  longer  do  you  sup- 


CATS,      UTTERED  MR.   BURTON 


76       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

pose  we  can  live  without  seeing  that  dear 
little  sister?" 

"Dear  little  girl  sister,"  said  Toddie,  by 
way  of  correction. 

"Oh,  quite  a  while,"  Mrs.  Burton  replied. 
"  I  know  you  love  it  and  your  mamma  too 
much  to  make  either  of  them  any  trouble, 
and  both  of  them  are  quite  feeble  yet.  You 
love  them  better  than  you  love  yourself, 
don't  you?" 

"Certainly,"  said  Budge.  "That's  why  I 
want  to  see  'em  so  awful  much." 

"  I  fink  it's  awful  mean  for  little  sishterzh 
not  to  have  deir  budders  to  play  wif,"  said 
Toddie. 

"  Well,  I  will  think  about  it,  and  if  you  will 
both  be  very  good,  we  will  go  there  to-day." 

"Oh!"  said  Budge.  "We'll  be  our  very 
goodest.  I'll  tell  you  what,  Tod;  we'll  have 
a  Sunday-school  right  after  breakbux ;  that  11 
be  good." 

"  I  know  something  gooder  dan  that,"  said 
Toddie.  "  We'll  play  Daniel  in  de  lions'  den, 
and  you  be  de  king  an'  take  me  out.  Dat's 
a  good  deal  gooder  dan  dzust  playin'  Sunday- 
school;  'caush  takin'  folks  away  from  awful 
bitey  lions  is  a  gooder  ring  dan  dzust  singin' 
an'  pray  in',  like  they  do  in  Sunday-school." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY      77 

"  Another  frightful  fit  of  heterodoxy  to  be 
overcome,  my  dear,"  observed  Mr.  Burton. 
"That  dreadful  child  is  committed  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  superior  efficacy  of  works 
over  faith." 

"  I  shall  tell  him  the  story  of  Daniel  cor 
rectly,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "and  error  will  be 
sure  to  fly  from  the  appearance  of  truth." 

Mr.  Burton  took  his  departure  for  the  day, 
and  while  his  wife  busied  herself  in  household 
management,  the  children  discussed  the  eti 
quette  of  the  promised  visit. 

"Tell  you  what,  Tod,"  said  Budge,  "we 
ought  to  take  her  presents,  anyhow.  That 
was  one  of  the  lovaly  things  about  Jesus  be 
ing  a  little  baby  once.  You  know  those 
shepherds  came  an'  brought  him  lots  of 
presents." 

"  What  letsh  take  her  ? "  asked  Toddie. 

"Well,"  said  Budge,  "the  shepherds  car 
ried  money  and  things  that  smelled  sweet,  so 
I  guess  that's  what  we  ought  to  do." 

"  Aw  wight, "  said  Toddie.  "  'Cept,  houzh 
we  goin'  to  get  'em  ? ' ' 

"  We  can  go  into  the  house  very  softly 
when  we  get  home,  you  know,"  said  Budge, 
"an'  shake  some  pennies  out  of  our  savings- 
bank;  them '11  do  for  the  money.  Then  for 


78       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

things  that  smell  sweet  we  can  get  flowers 
out  of  the  garden." 

"  Dat'll  be  dzust  a-givin'  her  rings  that's  at 
home  already.  I  fink  'twould  be  nicer  to 
carry  her  somefin'  from  here,  just  as  if  we  was 
comin'  from  where  we  took  care  of  de  sheep." 

"Tell  you  what,"  said  Budge.  "Let's 
tease  Aunt  Alice  for  pennies.  We  ought  to 
have  thought  about  it  before  Uncle  Harry 
wrent  away." 

"Oh,  yes!"  said  Toddie.  "An'  dere's  a 
bottle  of  smelly  stuff  in  Aunt  Alice's  room; 
we'll  get  some  of  dat.  Shall  we  ask  her  for 
it,  or  dzust  make  b'lieve  it's  ours?" 

"Let's  be  honest  'bout  it,"  said  Budge. 
"It's  wicked  to  hook  things." 

"  'Twouldn't  be  hookin'  if  we  took  it  for 
dat  lovaly  little  sister  baby,  would  it  ? "  asked 
Toddie.  '  'Sides,  I  want  to  s 'prise  Aunt 
Alice  an'  everybody  wif  de  lots  of  presentsh 
I  makesh  to  de  dear  little  ring." 

"Oh!  I'll  tell  you  what,"  said  Budge,  for 
getting  the  presents  entirely  in  his  rapture 
over  a  new  idea.  "  You  know  how  bright  the 
point  of  the  new  lightning-rod  on  our  house 
is?  Well,  we'll  make  b'lieve  that's  the  star 
in  the  East,  an'  it's  showin'  us  where  to  come 
to  find  the  baby." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY 


79 


"  Oh,  yes ! ' '  exclaimed  Toddle.  "  An'  may 
be  Aunt  Alice  11  carry  us  on  her  back,  and 
then  we'll  make  b'lieve  we're  ridin'  camels, 
like  the  shepherds  in  the  picture  we  had 


BOTH    STARTED  IN   CHASE  OF  IT 

Christmas,  an'  tore  up  to  make  menageries 
of." 

The  appearance  of  a  large  grasshopper 
directly  in  front  of  the  boys  ended  the  con 
versation  temporarily,  for  both  started  in 
chase  of  it. 


8o       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

Half  an  hour  later  both  boys  straggled  into 
the  house,  panting  and  dusty,  and  flung 
themselves  upon  the  floor,  when  their  aunt, 
with  that  weakness  peculiar  to  the  woman 
who  is  not  also  a  mother,  asked  them  where 
they  had  been,  why  they  were  out  of  breath, 
how  they  came  by  so  much  dust  on  their 
clothes,  and  why  they  were  so  cross.  Budge 
replied,  with  a  heavy  sigh : 

"  Big  folks  don't  know  much  about  little 
folks's  troubles." 

"Bad  old  hoppergrass,  just  kept  a-goin' 
wherever  he  wanted  to,  an'  never  corned  un 
der  my  hat,"  complained  Toddie. 

"  Perhaps  he  knew  it  would  not  be  best  for 
you  to  have  him,  Toddie,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 
"  What  would  you  have  done  with  him  if  you 
had  succeeded  in  catching  him?" 

"Tookted  his  hind  hoppers  off,"  said  Tod 
die,  promptly. 

"How  dreadful1"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton. 
"  What  would  you  have  done  that  for  ? " 

"So's  he'd  fly,"  said  Toddie.  "The  idea 
of  anybody  wif  wings  goin'  awound  on  their 
hoppersh!  How'd  you  like  it  if  I  had  wings, 
an'  only  trotted  and  jumped  instead  of  flied  ? " 

"My  dear  little  boy,"  said  Mrs.  Burton, 
taking  her  nephew  on  her  lap,  "you  must 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     81 

know  that  it's  very  wrong  to  hurt  animals  in 
that  way.  They  are  just  as  the  Lord  made 
them,  and  just  as  he  wants  them  to  be." 

"  All  animals  ? ' '  asked  Toddie. 

"Certainly,"  answered  Mrs.   Burton. 

:'  Then  what  for  doesh  you  catch  pitty  little 
mices  in  traps  an'  kill  'em ? ' ' 

Mrs.  Burton  hastened  to  give  the  conver 
sation  a  new  direction. 

"Because  they're  very  troublesome,"  she 
said.  "  And  even  troublesome  people  have 
to  be  punished  when  they  meddle  with  other 
people's  things." 

"We  know  that,  I  guess,"  interposed 
Budge,  with  a  sigh. 

"  But,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  hurrying  forward 
to  her  point,  "the  animals  have  nerves  and 
flesh  and  blood  and  bones,  just  like  little  boys 
do,  and  are  just  the  way  the  Lord  made  them. ' ' 

"  I'll  look  for  the  hoppergrass 's  blood  next 
time  I  pull  one's  legsh  off,"  said  Toddie. 

"Don't,"  said  Mrs.  Burton.  "You  must 
believe  what  aunty  tells  you,  and  you  mustn't 
trouble  the  poor  things  at  all.  Why,  Toddie, 
there  are  real  smart  men,  real  good  men  that 
everybody  respects,  that  have  spent  their 
whole  lives  in  study  of  insects,  like  grass 
hoppers,  and  flies,  and  bees— 


82       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"An'  never  got  stung?"  asked  Toddie. 
"Howdiddeydoit?" 

"They  don't  care  if  they  are  stung,"  said 
Mrs.  Burton.  :'They  are  deeply  interested 
in  learning  how  animals  are  made.  They 
study  all  kinds  of  animals,  and  try  to  find  out 
why  they  are  different  from  people ;  and  they 
find  out  that  some  wee  things,  like  grass 
hoppers,  are  more  wonderful  than  any  person 
that  ever  lived ! ' ' 

"I  should  think  so,"  said  Budge.  "If  I 
could  hop  like  a  grasshopper,  I  could  jump 
faster  than  any  boy  in  the  kindergarten,  an ' 
if  I  could  sting  like  a  hornet,  I  could  wallop 
any  boy  in  town." 

"Does  they  adzamine  big  animals,  too?" 
asked  Toddie. 

"Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Burton.  "One  of  them 
has  been  away  out  West  among  the  dreadful 
Indians,  just  to  find  out  what  horses  were 
like  a  good  many  years  ago." 

"  If  I  find  out  all  'bout  horsesh,"  said  Tod 
die,  "will  everybody  like  me?" 

"Very  likely,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"Then  I'm  goin'  to,"  said  Toddie,  sliding 
out  of  his  aunt's  lap. 

"Never  mind  about  it  now,  dear,"  said 
Mrs.  Burton.  "  We  are  going  to  see  mamma 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     83 

and  baby  now.  Go  and  dress  yourselves 
neatly,  boys." 

Both  children  started,  and  Mrs.  Burton, 
who  was  already  prepared  for  her  trip,  opened 
a  novel,  first  giving  herself  credit  for  having 
turned  at  least  one  perverted  faculty  of 
Toddie's  into  its  heaven-ordained  channel. 

"Another  triumph  to  report  to  my  hus 
band,"  said  she,  with  a  fine  air  of  exultation, 
as  she  opened  her  novel.  "And  yet,"  she 
continued,  absent-mindedly,  laying  the  book 
down  again,  "  I  believe  I  have  found  no  occa 
sion  on  which  to  report  yesterday's  victories ! " 

The  boys  were  slow  to  appear;  but  when 
they  came  down-stairs  they  presented  so 
creditable  an  appearance  as  to  call  for  a  spe 
cial  compliment  from  their  aunt.  On  their 
way  to  their  mamma's  house  they  seemed 
preoccupied,  and  they  sought  frequent  occa 
sions  to  whisper  to  each  other. 

Arrived  at  home,  their  impatience  knew  no 
restraint ;  and  when  the  nurse  appeared  with 
a  wee  bundle,  topped  with  a  little  face,  and 
lying  on  a  big  pillow,  both  boys  pounced  upon 
it  at  once,  Budge  trying  to  crowd  several 
pennies  into  the  baby's  rose-leaves  of  hands, 
while  Toddie  held  to  its  nose  a  bottle  labeled 
Liquid  Bluing . "  At  the  same  time  the  baby 


84       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

sneezed  alarmingly  and  a  strong  odor  of 
camphor  pervaded  the  room. 

"  Where  can  that  camphor  be?"  asked  the 
nurse.  "There  is  nothing  that  Mrs.  Law 
rence  hates  so  intensely ! ' ' 

The  baby  stopped  sneezing  and  began  a 
pitiful  wail,  while  Toddie  hastened  to  pick  up 
the  bluing-bottle;  then  the  nurse  saw  that 
upon  the  baby's  hitherto  immaculate  wraps 
there  was  a  large  stain  of  a  light-blue  tint 
and  emitting  a  strong  odor  of  camphor. 
Meanwhile,  Toddie  had  dragged  upon  his 
aunt's  sack,  held  his  precious  bottle  up  to 
his  aunt's  nose,  and  exclaimed: 

"  Izhn't  dat  too  baddy!  Baby  gropped  it, 
and  spilled  rnosht  every  bit  of  it  on  her 
c'ozhes  an'  on  de  floor!" 

"  Where  did  you  get  that  camphor,  Tod 
die?"  asked  Mrs.  Burton,  "and  why  did  you 
bring  it  here?" 

"Tizhn't  campiffer,"  said  Toddie.  "It's 
pyfume;  I  got  it  out  of  a  big  bottle  on  your 
bureau,  where  you  makes  your  hankafusses 
smell  sweet  at.  Budgie  an'  me  done  dzust 
what  dem  sheepmen  did  when  dey  came  to 
Beflehem  to  see  de  dear  little  Jesus-baby: 
we  brought  our  baby  money  an'  rings  dat 
smelled  sweet." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     85 

Mrs.  Burton  kissed  Toddie;  then  the  nurse 
fell  on  the  floor  and  displayed  the  baby's  face, 
and  then  the  face  was  shadowed  from  the 
light,  and  baby  opened  two  little  eyes  and 
regarded  her  brothers  with  a  stare  of  queenly 
gravity  and  gentleness,  and  the  adoration 
expressed  by  the  faces  of  the  two  boys  was 
such  as  no  old  master  ever  put  into  the  faces 
in  an  "Adoration  of  the  Magi,"  and  above 
them  bent  a  face  more  mature  but  none  the 
less  suffused  with  tender  awe.  The  silence 
seemed  too  holy  and  delightful  to  be  broken, 
but  Toddie  soon  looked  up  inquiringly  into 
his  aunt's  face  and  asked: 

"Aunt  Alice,  why  don't  dere  be  a  lovely 
sun  around  her  head  like  dere  is  in  pictures 
of  dear  little  Jesus-babies?" 

The  quartet  became  human  again,  and  the 
nurse  offered  each  of  the  party  a  five-minute 
interview  with  the  mother.  Mrs.  Burton 
emerged  from  the  sick-chamber  with  a  face 
which  her  nephews  could  not  help  scrutinizing 
curiously;  Budge  came  out  with  the  remark 
that  he  would  never  worry  his  sweet  mamma 
again  while  he  lived,  but  Toddie  exclaimed: 

"  If  I  had  a  little  new  baby  I  wouldn't  stay 
in  bed  in  dark  roomsh  all  day  long.  I  dzust 
get  up  an'  dansh  awound." 


86       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Aunt  Alice,"  asked  Budge,  on  the  way 
back  to  his  uncle's  residence,  "now  there's 
somebody  else  at  our  house  to  have  a  birth 
day,  isn't  there?  When  will  baby  sister's 
birthday  come — how  many  days  ? ' ' 

"About  three  hundred  and  sixty,"  said 
Mrs.  Burton. 

"  Goodness ! ' '  exclaimed  Budge.  "  And 
how  long  'fore  Christmas  11  come  again?" 

"Nearly  two  hundred  days." 

"  Well,  I  think  I  will  die  if  somebody  don't 
have  a  birthday  pretty  soon,  so  I  can  give  'em 
presents." 

"Why,  you  dear,  generous  little  fellow," 
said  Mrs.  Burton,  stooping  to  kiss  him,  "my 
own  birthday  will  come  to-morrow." 

"  Oh— h— h— h ! ' '  exclaimed  Budge.  "  Say 
Toddie—  The  remainder  of  the  con 

versation  was  conducted  in  whispers  and 
with  countenances  of  extreme  importance. 
The  boys  even  took  a  different  road  for  home, 
Budge  explaining  to  his  aunt  that  they  had  a 
big  secret  to  talk  about. 

Mrs.  Burton  stopped  en  route  to  ask  a 
neighborly  question  or  two,  and  arrived  at 
home  somewhat  later  than  her  nephews. 
She  saw  a  horse  and  wagon  at  the  door,  and 
rightly  imagined  that  they  belonged  to  the 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     87 

grocer.  But  what  a  certain  white  mass  on 
the  ground  under  the  horse  could  consist  of 
Mrs.  Burton  was  at  a  loss  to  conjecture,  and 
she  quickened  her  pace  only  to  find  the  white 
substance  aforesaid  resolve  itself  into  the 
neatly  clothed  body  of  her  nephew,  Toddie, 
who  was  lying  on  his  back  in  the  dirt,  and 
contemplating  the  noble  animal's  chest  with 
serene  curiosity. 

There  are  moments  in  life  when  dignity 
unbends  in  spite  of  itself,  and  grace  of  de 
portment  becomes  a  thing  to  be  loathed. 
Such  a  moment  Mrs.  Burton  endured,  as, 
dropping  her  parasol,  she  cautiously  but 
firmly  seized  Toddie  and  snatched  him  from 
his  dangerous  position. 

"  Go  into  the  house,  this  instant,  you  dirty 
boy!"  said  she,  with  an  imperious  stamp  of 
her  foot. 

The  fear  in  Toddie 's  countenance  gave 
place  to  expostulation,  as  he  exclaimed: 

"  I  was  only  dzust— 

"  Go  into  the  house  this  instant! "  repeated 
Mrs.  Burton. 

"Ah — h— h — h!"  said  Toddie,  beginning 
to  cry,  and  rolling  out  his  under  lip  as  freely 
as  if  there  were  yards  of  it  yet  to  come.  "  I 
was  only  study  in'  how  the  horsie  was  made 


88       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

togevver,  so's  every  body 'd  espec'  an'  love 
me.  Can't  go  to  where  dem  Injuns  is,  so  I 
fought  a  gushaway's  [grocery]  man's  horsie 
would  be  dzust  as  good.  Ah — h — h! " 

"There  was  no  necessity  for  your  lying  on 
the  ground,  in  your  clean  pique  dress,  to  do 
it,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"  Ah — h — h ! ' '  said  Toddie  again .  "I  stud 
ied  all  de  west  of  him  fyst,  an'  I  couldn't  hold 
him  up  so  as  to  look  under  him.  I  tried  to, 
an'  he  looked  at  me  dweadful  cwosh,  an'  so 
I  didn't." 

"  Go  into  the  house  and  have  another  dress 
put  on, "  said  Mrs.  Burton.  "  You  know  very 
well  that  nothing  excuses  little  boys  for  dirty 
ing  their  clothes  when  they  can  help  it.  When 
your  Uncle  Harry  comes  home  we  shall  have 
to  devise  some  way  of  punishing  you  so  that 
you  may  remember  to  take  better  care  of 
your  clothing  in  the  future." 

"Ah — h — h — h — !  I  hope  de  Lord  won't 
make  any  more  horsesh,  den,  nor  any  little 
boys  to  be  told  to  find  out  about  'em,  an' 
be  punnissed  dzust  for  gettin'  deir  c'oshes  a 
little  dyty!"  screamed  Toddie,  disappearing 
through  the  doorway  and  filling  the  house 
with  angry  screams. 

Mrs.  Burton  lingered  for  a  moment  upon 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     89 

the  piazza  steps,  and  bravely  endured  a 
spasm  of  sense.  There  forced  itself  upon  her 
mind  the  idea  that  it  might  be  possible  that 
the  soiling  of  garments  was  not  the  sin  of  all 
sins,  and  that  Toddie  had  really  been  affected 
by  her  information  about  the  noble  origin 
and  nature  of  the  animal  physique.  Cer 
tainly  nothing  but  a  sincere  passion  for  in 
vestigation  could  have  led  Toddie  between 
the  feet  of  a  horse,  and  a  person  so  absorbed 
in  scientific  pursuits  might  possibly  be  ex 
cused  for  being  regardless  of  personal  ap 
pearance.  But  clean  clothing  ranked  next 
to  clean  hearts  in  the  Mayton  family,  and 
such  acquirements  as  Mrs.  Burton  possessed 
she  determined  to  lovingly  transmit  to  her 
nephews,  so  far  as  was  in  her  power.  Toddie 
seemed  in  earnest  in  his  indignation,  and  she 
respected  mistaken  impressions  wrhich  were 
honestly  made,  so  she  determined  to  try  to 
console  the  weeping  child.  Going  into  his 
room,  she  found  her  nephew  lying  on  his 
back,  kicking,  screaming,  and  otherwise  giv 
ing  vent  to  his  rage. 

"  Toddie,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "  it  is  too  bad 
that  you  should  have  so  much  trouble  just 
after  you  have  been  to  see  your  mamma  and 
little  sister." 


go      BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"I  know  it!"  screamed  Toddie,  "an'  you 
can  dzust  go  down-stairs  again  if  dat's  all 
you  came  to  tell  me." 

"But,  Toddie,  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Burton, 
kneeling  and  smoothing  the  hot  forehead  of 
her  nephew,  "  aunty  wants  to  see  you  feeling 
comfortable  again." 

"  Den  put  me  back  under  the  horsie  again, 
so  folksh'll  'espec'  me,"  sobbed  Toddie. 

"You've  learned  enough  about  the  horse 
for  to-day,"  said  Mrs.  Burton.  "I'll  ask 
your  papa  to  teach  you  more  when  you  gc 
back  home.  Poor  little  boy,  how  hot  your 
cheeks  are !  Aunt  Alice  wishes  she  could  see 
you  looking  happy  again." 

Toddie  stopped  crying  for  a  moment, 
looked  at  his  aunt  intently,  sat  up,  put  on 
an  air  of  importance,  and  said : 

"Did  de  Lord  send  you  up-stairsh  to  tell 
me  you  was  sorry  for  what  you  done  to  me  ? ' ' 
asked  Toddie.  "Den  I  forgives  you,  only 
don't  do  dat  baddy  way  any  more.  If  you 
want  to  put  a  clean  dwess  on  me,  you  can." 

"Aunt  Alice,"  said  Budge,  who  had  saun 
tered  into  the  room,  "  you  told  Uncle  Harry 
at  the  breakbux  table  that  you  was  goin'  to 
tell  us  about  Daniel  to-day.  Don't  you 
think  it's  about  time  to  do  it?" 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     91 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  Toddie,  hurrying  his  head 
into  his  clean  dress,  "an'  how  de  lions  et  up 
de  bad  men  dat  made  de  king  frow  Daniel 
in  de  deep  dark  hole.  Gwon." 

"  There  was  a  very  good  young  man  whose 
name  was  Daniel,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "and 
although  the  king  made  a  law  that  nobody 
should  pray  except  to  the  gods  that  his  peo 
ple  worshiped,  Daniel  prayed  every  day  to 
the  same  Lord  that  we  love." 

"  He  was  up  in  heaven  then,  like  he  is 
now,  wasn't  he?"  said  Budge. 

"Yes." 

"  Then  where  was  the  other  people's  god  ? ' ' 

"  Oh,  on  shelves  and  in  closets,  and  all  sorts 
of  places,"  said  Mrs.  Burton.  "They  were 
only  bits  of  wood  and  stone;  idols,  in  fact." 

"And  wasn't  they  good?" 

"Not  at  all." 

"Well,  I  don't  think  that's  very  nice,  for 
papa  sometimes  says  that  I  am  mamma's 
idol.  Am  I  sticky  or  stony?" 

"  Certainly  not,  dear.  He  means  that  your 
mother  cares  a  great  deal  for  you;  that  is  all. 
And  Daniel  prayed  just  as  he  chose  and 
when  he  chose,  and  the  people  that  didn't  like 
him  hurried  up  the  king  and  said,  'Just  see, 
that  young  man  for  whom  you  care  so  much 


92       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

is  praying  to  the  Lord  that  the  Jews  believe 
in.'  The  king  was  sorry  to  hear  this,  but 
Daniel  wouldn't  tell  a  lie;  he  admitted  that 
he  prayed  just  as  he  wanted  to,  so  the  king 
had  to  order  some  men  to  throw  Daniel  into 
the  den  of  lions.  He  felt  very  badly  about 
it,  for  Daniel  had  been  always  very  good  and 
honest,  and  very  good  people  are  hard  to  find 
anywhere." 

"  Musht  tell  mamma  dat,  nexsht  time  she 
saysh  I  must  be  very  good,"  said  Toddie. 
"Gwon." 

"  They  threw  poor  Daniel  in  among  the 
lions,  and  he  must  have  felt  dreadful  on  the 
way  to  the  den,  for  he  knew  that  lions  are 
very  savage  and  hungry.  Why,  one  single 
lion  will  often  eat  up  a  whole  man,  yet  there 
were  a  great  many  lions  in  the  den  Daniel 
was  taken  to.'' 

"  He  wouldn't  make  much  of  a  supper  for 
all  of  them,  poor  fellow,  would  he?"  Budge 
asked. 

"No,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "so  he  did  what 
sensible  people  always  do  when  they  find 
themselves  in  trouble.  He  prayed.  As  for 
the  king,  I  imagine  he  didn't  sleep  much  that 
night.  People  who  take  the  advice  of  others 
and  against  their  own  better  judgment,  gen- 


'TELL   ME    WHAT    YOU    THINK   ABOUT   IT 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     93 

erally  have  to  feel  uncomfortable  about  it. 
At  any  rate,  the  king  was  awake  very  early 
next  morning,  and  hurried  off  to  the  den 
alone,  and  looked  in,  and  shouted,  'Daniel! 
the  Lord  that  you  believe  in,  was  he  strong 
enough  to  keep  the  lions  from  eating  you?' 
And  then  Daniel  answered  the  king — think  of 
how  happy  it  must  have  made  the  king  to  hear 
his  voice,  and  know  he  was  not  dead!  The 
unkindness  of  the  king  had  not  made  Daniel 
forget  to  be  respectful,  so  he  said,  '  Oh,  king, 
I  hope  you  may  live  for  ever. '  Then  he  told 
the  king  that  he  had  not  been  hurt  at  all,  and 
the  king  was  very  glad,  and  he  had  Daniel 
taken  out,  and  then  the  bad  men  who  had 
been  the  cause  of  Daniel  being  given  to  the 
lions  were  all  thrown  into  the  den  themselves, 
and  the  lions  ate  every  one  of  them." 

"  I  know  why  they  let  Daniel  alone  an'  ate 
up  all  the  other  fellows,"  said  Budge,  with  an 
air  of  comprehension. 

"I  felt  sure  you  would,  dear  little  boy," 
said  Mrs.  Burton;  "but  you  may  tell  me 
what  you  think  about  it." 

"  Why,  you  see,"  said  Budge,  "  Daniel  was 
only  one  man,  and  he  would  be  only  a  speck 
apiece  for  all  those  lions — just  like  one  single 
bite  of  cake  to  a  little  boy.  When  there  were 


94      BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

plenty  of  men,  so  that  each  lion  could  have 
one  for  himself,  they  made  up  their  minds 
it  was  dinner-time,  an'  so  they  went  to 
work." 

Somehow  this  reply  caused  Mrs.  Burton  to 
forget  to  enforce  the  great  moral  application 
of  the  story  of  Daniel,  and  she  found  it  con 
venient  to  make  a  sudden  tour  of  inspection 
in  the  kitchen.  She  was  growing  desperately 
conscious  that,  instead  of  instructing  and 
controlling  the  children,  she  had  thus  far 
done  little  but  supply  material  for  their  act 
ive  minds  and  bodies  to  employ  in  manners 
extremely  distasteful  to  her.  More  than 
once  she  found  her  mind  wavering  between 
two  extremes  of  the  theories  of  government 
—it  seemed  to  her  that  she  must  either  be 
very  severe,  or  must  allow  the  children  to 
naturally  develop  their  own  faculties,  within 
reasonable  bounds.  At  the  first  she  rebelled, 
partly  because  she  was  not  cruel  by  nature, 
as  severe  rulers  of  children  often  are,  and 
partly  because  the  children  were  not  her  own. 
The  other  extreme  was  equally  distasteful, 
however.  Were  not  children  always  made 
to  mind  in  well-regulated  families?  To  be 
sure,  they  seldom  in  such  cases  fulfilled,  in 
adult  years,  the  promise  of  their  youth,  but 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     95 

that,  of  course,  was  their  own  fault — whose 
else  could  it  be?  Should  adults,  should  she, 
whose  will  had  never  been  brooked  by  parent 
or  husband,  set  aside  her  own  inclinations  for 
the  sake  of  a  couple  of  unformed,  unreason 
ing  minds  ? 

Like  most  other  people  in  doubt,  Mrs.  Bur 
ton  did  nothing  for  a  few  hours  and  succeeded 
thereby  in  entirely  losing  sight  of  her  nephews 
until  nearly  sunset,  when,  drawn  by  that  in 
stinct  which  is  strongest  in  the  most  imma 
ture  natures,  the  boys  returned  for  something 
to  eat.  Though  quiet,  there  could  be  no 
doubt  about  their  contentment ;  their  clothes 
were  very  dirty,  and  so  were  their  faces,  but 
out  of  the  latter  shone  that  indefinable  some 
thing  that  is  the  easily  read  indication  of  the 
consciousness  of  rectitude  and  satisfaction 
with  the  results  of  right -doing.  They  were 
not  communicative,  even  under  much  ques 
tioning,  and  Mr.  Burton  finally  said,  as  one  in 
a  soliloquy: 

"  I  wonder  what  it  was  ? ' ' 

"What  are  you  talking  about,  Harry?" 
asked  Mrs.  Burton. 

"  I  am  merely  wondering  what  original  and 
expensive  experiment  they've  been  up  to 
now,"  replied  the  head  of  the  household. 


96      BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"None  whatever,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  with 
an  energy  almost  startling.  "  I  often  wonder 
how  men  can  be  so  blind.  Look  at  their 
dear,  pure  little  faces,  dirty  though  they  are; 
there's  no  more  consciousness  of  wrong  there 
than  there  could  be  in  an  angel's  face." 

"  Just  so,  my  dear, ' '  said  Mr.  Burton.  "  If 
they  were  oftener  conscious  of  misdeeds  they 
would  be  worse  boys,  but  a  great  deal  less 
troublesome.  Come  see  uncle,  boys — don't 
you  want  a  trot  on  my  knees?" 

Both  children  scrambled  into  their  uncle's 
arms,  and  Budge  began  to  whisper  very 
earnestly. 

"  Yes,  I  suppose  so,"  Mr.  Burton  answered. 

"  Goody,  goody,  goody ! ' '  exclaimed  Budge, 
clapping  his  hands.  "I'm  going  to  give 
you  a  birthday  present  to-morrow,  Aunt 
Alice." 

"SoamI,"saidToddie. 

"It's  something  to  eat,"  said  Budge. 

"Mine,  too,"  said  Toddie. 

"Be  careful,  Budge,"  said  Mr.  Burton. 
"  You'll  let  the  secret  out  if  you're  not  care 
ful." 

"  Oh,  no,  I  won't.  I  only  said  'twas  some 
thing  to  eat.  But  say,  Aunt  Alice,  how  do 
bananas  grow?" 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     97 

Toddie,  with  brightening  eyes  and  a  con 
fident  shake  of  his  curly  head. 

"And  I  know,"  said  Mr.  Burton,  lifting 
Toddie  suddenly  from  his  knee,  "  that  either 
a  certain  little  boy  is  breaking  to  pieces  and 
spilling  badly,  or  something  else  is.  What's 
this?"  he  continued,  noticing  a  very  wet  spot 
on  Toddie 's  apron,  just  under  which  his 
pocket  was.  "And"  (here  he  opened  Tod- 
die's  pocket  and  looked  into  it)  "  what  is  that 
vile  muss  in  your  pocket  ? " 

Toddie 's  eyes  opened  in  wonder,  and  then 
his  countenance  fell. 

'Twash  only  a  little  bunch,"  said  he,  "  an' 
I  was  goin'  to  eat  it  on  de  way  home,  but  I 
forgotted  it!" 

"They're  white  grapes,  my  dear,"  said 
Mr.  Burton.  "The  boys  have  been  rob 
bing  somebody's  hothouse;  Tom  has  no 
grapes  in  his.  Where  did  you  get  these, 
boys?" 

"Sh — h — h!"  whispered  Toddie,  impress 
ively.  "  Nobody  musht  never  tell  secretsh." 

"Where  did  you  get  those  grapes?"  de 
manded  Mrs.  Burton,  hastening  to  the  exam 
ination  of  the  dripping  dress. 

Toddie  burst  into  tears. 

"I    should    think    you   would   cry!"   ex- 


98       BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

claimed  Mrs.  Burton;  "  after  stealing  people's 
fruit." 

"Isn't  cry  in'  'bout  dat,"  sobbed  Toddie. 
"  I'ze  cryin'  'caush  youze  a-spoilin'  my 
s 'prise  for  your  bifeday  ev'ry  minute  you's 
a-talkin'!" 

"Alice,  Alice!"  said  Mr.  Burton,  softly. 
"  Remember  that  the  poor  child  is  not  old 
enough  to  have  learned  what  stealing  means. ' ' 

"Then  he  shall  learn  now!"  exclaimed 
Mrs.  Burton,  all  of  her  righteous  sense  upon 
the  alert.  "  What  do  you  suppose  would  be 
come  of  you  if  you  were  to  die  to-night  ? ' ' 

"Won't  die!"  sobbed  Toddie.  "If  angel 
comes  to  kill  me  like  he  did  the  'Gyptians, 
I'll  hide." 

"  No  one  could  hide  from  the  angel  of  the 
Lord,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  determined  that 
fear  should  do  what  reason  could  not. 

"  Why,  he  doesn't  carry  no  lanternzh  wif 
him  in  de  night-time,  does  he?"  said  Toddie. 

Mr.  Burton  laughed  but  his  wife  silenced 
him  with  a  glance  and  answered : 

"  He  can  see  well  enough  to  find  bad  little 
boys  when  he  wants  them." 

"Ain't  bad,"  screamed  Toddie,  "an'  I 
won't  give  you  de  uvver  grapes  now,  dat  we 
brought  home  in  a  flower-pot." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY      99 


"Come  to  uncle,  old  boy,"  said  Mr. 
ton,  taking  the  doleful  child  upon  his 
again,   and   caressing  him  tenderly, 
uncle  all  about  it,  and  he'll  see  if  you 
be  set  all  right." 

"An'    not 
let   de   killey 
angel   come 
catch    me  ?  ' 
asked    Toddie. 

"I'll  tell  you, 
Uncle  Harry," 
said  Budge. 


Bur- 
knee 
"Tell 
can't 


WE  GOT  THREE  OR  FOUR  NICE   BUNCHES 


"  We  was  goin'  to  give  Aunt  Alice  fruit  for 
her  birthday — me  bananas  an'  Tod  white 
grapes.  We  didn't  know  where  any  bananas 
growed,  but  Mr.  Bushman,  way  off  along  the 
mountain,  has  got  lots  of  lovely  grapes  in  his 


zoo     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

greenhouse,  'cause  we  went  there  once  with 
papa,  and  they  talked  'bout  grapes  an' 
things  'most  all  afternoon,  an'  he  told  him  to 
come  help  himself  whenever  he  wanted  any. 
So  we  made  up  a  great  secret,  an'  we  went 
up  there  this  afternoon  to  ask  him  to  give  us 
some  for  our  aunt,  'cause  'twas  goin'  to  be 
her  birthday.  But  he  wasn't  home,  and  the 
greenhouse  man  wasn't  there  either;  but  the 
door  was  open,  an'  we  went  in  an'  saw  the 
grapes,  an'  we  made  up  our  minds  that  he 
wouldn't  care  if  we  took  some,  'cause  he  told 
papa  to.  So  we  got  three  or  four  nice  bunch 
es,  and  put  'em  in  a  flower-pot  with  leaves  in 
it,  and  each  of  us  got  a  little  bunch  to  eat 
ourselves;  but  we  found  lots  of  wild  straw 
berries  on  the  way  back,  so  Tod  forgot  his 
grapes,  I  guess,  but  mine's  safe  in  my  stom 
ach.  An'  'twas  awful  hot  an'  dusty,  an'  I 
never  got  so  tired  in  my  life.  But  we  wanted 
to  make  Aunt  Alice  happy,  so  we  didn't 
care." 

"An'  then  she  said  we  was  fiefs!"  sobbed 
Toddie.  "Bad  old  fing!" 

"Never  mind,  Toddie,"  said  Mrs.  Burton, 
all  her  moral  purpose  taking  flight  as  she 
kissed  the  tear-stained,  dirty  little  cheeks, 
and  carried  her  nephew  to  the  dinner-table. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   101 

Toddle's  meal  was  quickly  dispatched.  He 
seemed  preoccupied,  and  hurried  away  from 
the  table,  though  he  was  quite  ready  to  go  to 
bed  when  summoned  by  his  aunt.  Half  an 
hour  later  Mr.  Burton,  sauntering  out  to  the 
piazza  to  smoke,  saw  a  large,  rude  cross,  in 


"SO  I  PUTTED  CROSSES  ON  THE  DOOR" 

red  ink,  on  either  side  of  the  door-frame. 
Even  men  have  weaknesses,  and  a  fastidious 
ness  about  the  appearance  of  his  house  was 
one  of  Mr.  Burton's.  He  dashed  up  the 
stairs,  three  steps  at  a  time,  and  burst  into 
his  nephew's  room,  exclaiming: 

"Who  daubed  the  door  with  ink?" 


102     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  Me, "  said  Toddie,  boldly.  "  I  was  afraid 
you'd  forget  to  tell  dat  killey  angel  I  wasn't 
any  fief,  so  I  putted  crosses  on  de  door,  like 
de  Izzyrelites  did,  so  he  would  go  a-past. 
He  wouldn't  know  de  ink  wasn't  blood,  I 
guess,  in  de  night-time." 

Toddie  suddenly  found  himself  alone  again. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    103 


CHAPTER  IV 

MRS.  BURTON'S  birthday  dawned 
brightly,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that 
as  it  was  her  first  natal  anniversary  since  her 
marriage  to  a  man  who  had  no  intention  or 
ability  to  cease  being  a  lover,  her  ante-break 
fast  moments  were  too  fully  and  happily  oc 
cupied  to  allow  her  to  even  think  of  two  little 
boys  who  had  already  impressed  upon  her 
their  willingness  and  general  ability  to  think 
for  themselves.  As  for  the  boys  themselves, 
they  woke  with  the  lark,  and  with  a  heavy 
sense  of  responsibility  also.  The  room  of 
Mrs.  Burton's  chambermaid  joined  their  own, 
and  the  occupant  of  that  room  having  been 
charged  by  her  mistress  with  the  general  care 
of  the  boys  between  dark  and  daylight,  she 
had  grown  accustomed  to  wake  at  the  first 
sound  in  the  boys'  room.  On  the  morning 
of  her  mistress's  birthday  the  first  sound  she 
heard  was: 

"Tod?" 

No  response  could  be  heard ;  but  a  moment 
later  the  chambermaid  heard: 

"T— o— o— od!" 


io4     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  Ah — h — h — ow ! ' '  drawled  a  voice,  not  so 
sleepily  but  it  could  sound  aggrieved. 

"  Wake  up,  dear  old  Toddie  budder.  It's 
Aunt  Alice's  birthday  now." 

"Needn't  bweak  my  earzh  open,  if  'tis," 
whined  Toddie. 

"I  only  holloed  in  one  ear,  Tod,"  remon 
strated  Budge,  "an'  you  ought  to  love  dear 
Aunt  Alice  enough  to  have  that  hurt  a  little 
rather  than  not  wake  up." 

A  series  of  groans,  snarls,  whines,  grunts, 
snorts,  and  remonstrances  semi-articulate 
were  heard,  and  at  length  some  complicated 
wriggles  and  convulsive  kicks  were  made 
manifest  to  the  listening  ear,  and  Budge 
said: 

"That's  right!  Now  let's  get  up  an'  get 
ready.  Say;  do  you  know  that  wTe  didn't 
think  anything  about  having  some  music? 
Don't  you  remember  how  papa  played  the 
piano  last  mamma's  birthday  when  she  came 
down-stairs,  an'  how  happy  it  made  her,  an' 
we  danced  around  ? ' ' 

"Aw  wight,"  said  Toddie.     "Let's." 

"Tell  you  what,"  said  Budge.  "Let's 
both  bang  the  piano,  like  mamma  an'  Aunt 
Alice  does  together  sometimes." 

"  Oh,  yesh! "  Toddie  exclaimed.    "  We  can 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    105 

make  some  awful  big  bangsh  before  she  can 
get  down  to  tell  us  to  don't." 

Then  there  was  heard  a  scurrying  of  light 
feet  as  the  boys  picked  up  their  various  ar 
ticles  of  clothing  from  the  corners,  chairs, 
bureau,  table,  etc.,  where  they  had  been 
tossed  the  night  before.  The  chambermaid 
hurried  to  their  assistance,  and  both  boys 
were  soon  dressed.  A  plate  containing  ba 
nanas,  and  another  with  the  hard-earned 
grapes,  were  on  the  bureau,  and  the  boys 
took  them  and  tiptoed  down  the  stair  and 
into  the  dining-room. 

"  Gwacious!"  said  Toddie,  as  he  placed  his 
plate  on  the  sideboard;  "maybe  the  gwapes 
an'  buttonanoes  has  got  sour.  I  guesh  we'd 
better  try  'em,  like  mamma  does  de  milk  on 
hot  morningsh  when  the  baddy  milkman 
don't  come  time  enough."  Toddie  suited 
the  action  to  the  word  by  plucking  from  a 
cluster  the  handsomest  grape  in  sight.  "  I 
fink,"  said  he,  smacking  his  lips  with  the  sus 
picious  air  of  a  professional  taster;  "I  fink 
dey  is  gettin'  sour." 

"Let's  see,"  said  Budge. 

"No,"  said  Toddie,  plucking  another 
grape  with  one  hand  while  with  the  other  he 
endeavored  to  cover  his  gift.  "  Ize  bid 


io6     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

enough  to  do  it  all  myself.  Unless,"  he  add 
ed,  as  a  happy  inspiration  struck  him, 
"you'll  let  me  help  see  if  your  buttonanoes 
is  sour." 

"Then  you  can  only  have  one  bite,"  said 
Budge.  ''  You  must  let  me  taste  about  six 
grapes,  'cause  'twould  take  that  many  to 
make  one  of  your  bites  on  a  banana." 

"Aw  wight,"  said  Toddie;  and  the  boys 
proceeded  to  exchange  duties,  Budge  taking 
the  precaution  to  hold  the  banana  himself, 
so  that  his  brother  should  not  abstractedly 
sample  a  second  time,  and  Toddie  doling  out 
the  grapes  with  careful  count. 

"They  are  a  little  sour,"  said  Budge,  with 
a  wry  face.  "  Perhaps  some  other  bunch  is 
better.  I  think  we'd  better  try  each  one, 
don't  you?" 

"An'  each  one  of  the  buttonanoes,  too," 
suggested  Toddie.  "  Dat  one  wazh  pretty 
good,  but  maybe  some  of  the  others  isn't." 

The  proposition  was  accepted,  and  soon 
each  banana  had  its  length  reduced  by  a 
fourth,  and  the  grape-clusters  displayed  a 
fine  development  of  wood.  Then  Budge 
seemed  to  realize  that  his  present  was  not 
as  sightly  as  it  might  be,  for  he  carefully 
closed  the  skins  at  the  ends,  and  turned  the 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    107 


unbroken  ends  to  the  front  as  deftly  as  if 
he  were  a  born  retailer  of  fruit. 

This  done,  he  ex 
claimed  :  "Oh !  we  want 
our  cards  on  'em,  else 
how  will  she  know  who 
they  came  from  ? ' 

"We '11  be  here  to  tell 
her,"  said  Toddie. 

"Huh!  "said  Budge; 
"that  wouldn't  make 


"THEN  YOU  CAN  ONLY  HAVE  ONE  BITE,'!  SAID  BUDGE 

her  half  so  happy.     Don't  you  know  how 
when     cousin     Florence     gets   presents    of 


BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

flowers,  she's  always  happiest  when  she's 
lookin'  at  the  card  that  comes  with  'em?" 

"Aw  wight,"  said  Toddie,  hurrying  into 
the  parlor,  and  returning  \vith  the  cards  of  a 
lady  and  gentleman,  taken  haphazard  from 
his  aunt's  card-receiver. 

"Now,  we  must  write  'Happy  Birthday' 
on  the  backs  of  'em,"  said  Budge,  exploring 
his  pockets,  and  extracting  a  stump  of  a  lead 
pencil.  "Now,"  continued  Budge,  leaning 
over  the  card,  and  displaying  all  the  facial 
contortions  of  the  unpractised  writer,  as  he 
laboriously  printed,  in  large  letters,  speak 
ing,  as  he  worked,  a  letter  at  a  time: 

"H— A— P— P— E  B— U— R— F— D— A 
—Happy  Birthday.  Now,  you  must  hold 
the  pencil  for  yours,  or  else  it  won't  be  so 
sweet;  that's  what  mamma  says." 

Toddie  took  the  pencil  in  his  pudgy  hand, 
Budge  guided  it,  and  two  juvenile  heads 
touched  each  other  and  swayed  and  twisted 
and  bobbed  in  unison  until  the  work  was 
completed. 

"Now,  I  think  she  ought  to  come,"  said 
Budge.  (Breakfast -time  was  still  more  than 
an  hour  distant.)  "  Why,  the  rising-bell 
hasn  't  rung  yet !  Let 's  ring  it ! " 

The  boys  fought  for  possession  of  the  bell, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    109 

but  superior  might  conquered  and  Budge 
marched  up  and  down  the  hall,  ringing  with 
the  enthusiasm  and  duration  peculiar  to  the 
amateur. 

"Bless  me!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton,  has 
tening  to  complete  her  toilet.  "  How  time 
does  fly — sometimes ! ' ' 

Mr.  Burton  saw  something  in  his  wife's 
face  that  called  for  lover-like  treatment,  but 
it  was  not  without  a  sense  of  injury  that  he 
exclaimed,  immediately  after,  as  he  drew 
forth  his  watch: 

"I  declare!  I  would  make  an  affidavit 
that  we  hadn't  been  awake  half  an  hour. 
Ah!  I  forgot  to  wind  my  watch  last 
night." 

The  boys  hurried  into  the  parlor. 

"  I  hear  'em  trampin'  around!"  exclaimed 
Budge,  in  great  excitement.  'There! — the 
piano's  shut!  Isn't  that  too  mean?  Oh, 
I'll  tell  you;  here's  Uncle  Harry's  violin." 

"But  whatsh  I  goin'  to  play  on?"  asked 
Toddie,  dancing  frantically  about. 

"Wait  a  rnniute,"  said  Budge,  dropping 
the  violin,  and  hurrying  to  the  floor  above, 
from  which  he  speedily  returned  with  a 
comb.  A  bound  volume  of  the  Portfolio  lay 
upon  the  table,  and  opening  this,  Budge  tore 


no     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

the  tissue  paper  from  one  of  the  etchings  and 
wrapped  the  comb  in  it. 

"  There! ' '  said  he,  "  you  fiddle  an'  I'll  blow 
the  comb.  Goodness!  why  don't  they  come 
down?  Oh,  we  forgot  to  put  pennies  under 
the  plate,  and  we  don't  know  how  many 
years  old  to  put  'em  for." 

"  An'  we  ain't  got  no  pennies, ' '  said  Toddie. 

"I  know,"  said  Budge,  hurrying  to  a  cab 
inet  in  a  drawer  of  which  his  uncle  kept  the 
nucleus  of  a  collection  of  American  coinage. 
'This  kind  of  pennies,"  Budge  continued, 
"  isn't  as  pretty  as  our  kind,  but  they're  big 
ger,  an'  they'll  look  better  on  a  table-cloth. 
Now,  how  old  do  you  think  she  is  ? " 

"I  dunno,"  said  Toddie,  going  into  a  rev 
erie  of  hopeless  conjecture.  "  She's  about  as 
big  as  you  an'  me  put  togevver." 

"Well,"  said  Budge,  "you're  four  an'  I'm 
six,  an'  four  an'  six  is  ten — I  guess  ten  11  be 
about  the  thing." 

Mrs.  Burton's  plate  was  removed,  and  the 
pennies  were  deposited  in  a  circle.  There 
was  some  painful  counting  and  recounting, 
and  many  disagreements,  additions  and  sub 
tractions.  Finally,  the  pennies  were  ar 
ranged  in  four  rows,  two  of  three  each  and 
two  of  two  each,  and  Budge  counted  the 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY  in 

threes  and  Toddie  verified  the  twos,  and 
Budge  was  adding  the  four  sums  together, 
when  footsteps  were  heard  descending  the 
stairs. 

Budge  hastily  dropped  the  surplus  coppers 
upon  the  four  rows,  replaced  the  plate,  and 
seized  the  comb  as  Toddie  placed  the  violin 
against  his  knee  as  he  had  seen  small,  itiner 
ant  Italians  do.  A  second  or  two  later,  as 
the  host  and  hostess  entered  the  dining-room, 
there  arose  a  sound  which  caused  Mrs.  Bur 
ton  to  clap  her  fingers  to  her  ears,  while  her 
husband  exclaimed : 

"  'Scat!" 

Then  both  boys  dropped  their  instruments, 
Toddie  finding  the  ways  of  his  own  feet  seri 
ously  compromised  by  the  strings  of  the  vio 
lin,  while  both  children  turned  happy  faces 
toward  their  aunt,  and  shouted: 

"Happy  Burf day!" 

Mr.  Burton  hurried  to  the  rescue  of  his 
darling  instrument,  while  his  wife  gave  each 
boy  an  appreciative  kiss,  and  showed  them  a 
couple  of  grateful  tears.  Her  eye  was  caught 
by  the  fruit  on  the  sideboard,  and  she  read 
the  cards  aloud: 

"  Mrs.  Frank  Rommery — this  is  just  like 
her  effusiveness.  I've  never  met  her  but 


ii2     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

once,  but  I  suppose  her  bananas  must  atone 
for  her  lack  of  manners.  Why,  Charley 
Crewne!  Dear  me!  What  memories  some 
men  have ! ' ' 

A  cloud  came  upon  Mr.  Burton's  brow. 
Charley  Crewne  had  been  one  of  his  rivals  for 
Miss  Mayton's  hand,  and  Mrs.  Burton  was 
looking  a  trifle  thoughtful,  and  her  husband 
was  as  unreasonably  as  newly  made  husbands 
often  are,  when  Mrs.  Burton  exclaimed: 

"  Some  one  has  been  picking  the  grapes  off 
in  the  most  shameful  manner.  Boys ! ' ' 

"Ain't  from  no  Rommerys  an'  Crewnes!" 
said  Toddie.  "  Deysh  from  me  an'  Budgie, 
an'  we  dzust  tasted  'em  to  see  if  dey'd  got 
sour  in  the  night." 

"  Where  did  the  cards  come  from?"  asked 
Mrs  Burton. 

"Out  of  the  basket  in  the  parlor,"  said 
Budge.  "  But  the  back  is  the  nice  part  of 
'em." 

Mrs.  Burton's  thoughtful  expression  and 
her  husband's  frown  disappeared  together 
as  they  seated  themselves  at  the  table.  Both 
boys  wriggled  vigorously  until  their  aunt 
raised  her  plate,  and  then  Budge  exclaimed : 

"  A  penny  for  each  year,  you  know." 

"Thirty-one!"    exclaimed    Mrs.    Burton, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    113 

after    counting    the    heap.     "  How    compli 
mentary  ! ' ' 

"What  doesh  you  do  for  little  boys  on 
your  bifeday?"  asked  Toddie,  after  break 
fast  was  served.  "  Mamma  does  lots  of 
fings." 


"WHERE  DID  THE  CARDS  COME  FROM?!! 

"Yes,"  said  Budge,  "she  says  she  thinks 
people  ought  to  get  their  own  happy  by 
makin'  other  people  happy.  An'  mamma 
knows  better  than  you,  you  know,  'cause 
she's  been  married  longest." 


ii4     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

Although  Mrs.  Burton  admitted  the  facts, 
the  inference  seemed  scarcely  natural,  and 
she  said  so. 

"Well — a — a — a — a — anyhow,"  said  Tod- 
die,  "  mamma  always  has  parties  on  her  bife- 
day,  an'  we  hazh  all  de  cake  we  want." 

"You  shall  be  happy  to-day,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton;  "for  a  few  friends  will  be  in  to  see 
me  this  afternoon,  and  I  am  going  to  have  a 
nice  little  luncheon  for  them,  and  you  shall 
lunch  with  us,  if  you  will  be  very  good  until 
then,  and  keep  yourselves  clean  and  neat." 

"Aw  wight,"  said  Toddie.  "  Izhn't  it  most 
time  now?  " 

"Tod's  all  stomach,"  said  Budge.  "Say, 
Aunt  Alice,  I  hope  you  won't  forget  to  have 
some  fruit-cake.  That's  the  kind  we  like 
best." 

"You'll  come  home  very  early,  Harry?" 
asked  Mrs.  Burton,  ignoring  her  nephew's 
question. 

"By  noon,  at  furthest,"  said  the  gentle 
man  .  "I  only  want  to  see  my  morning  letters , 
and  fill  any  orders  that  may  be  in  them." 

"  What  are  you  coming  so  early  for,  Uncle 
Harry?"  asked  Budge. 

" To  take  Aunt  Alice  riding,  old  boy,"  said 
Mr.  Burton. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    115 

"Oh!  just  listen,  Tod!  Won't  that  be 
jolly?  Uncle  Harry's  going  to  take  us  rid- 
ing!" 

"  I  said  I  was  going  to  take  your  Aunt 
Alice,  Budge,"  said  Mr.  Burton. 

"I  heard  you,"  said  Budge,  "but  that 
won't  trouble  us  any.  She  always  likes  to 
talk  to  you  better  than  she  does  to  us. 
Where  are  we  going?" 

Mr.  Burton  asked  his  wife,  in  German, 
whether  the  Lawrence-Burton  assurance 
was  not  charmingly  natural,  and  Mrs.  Bur 
ton  answered  in  the  same  tongue  that  it  was, 
but  was  none  the  less  deserving  of  rebuke, 
and  that  she  felt  it  her  duty  to  tone  it  down 
in  her  nephews.  Mr.  Burton  wished  her  joy 
of  the  attempt,  and  asked  a  number  of 
searching  questions  about  success  already  at 
tained,  until  Mrs.  Burton  was  glad  to  see 
Toddie  come  out  of  a  brown  study  and  hear 
him  say: 

"  I  fink  dat  placesh  where  de  river  is  bwoke 
off  izh  de  nicest  placesh." 

"What  does  the  child  mean?"  asked  his 
aunt. 

"  Don't  you  know  where  we  went  last  year, 
an'  you  stopped  us  from  seein'  how  far  we 
could  hang  over,  Uncle  Harry?"  said  Budge. 


n6     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Oh !  Passaic  Falls !' '  exclaimed  Mr.  Burton. 

"Yes,  that's  it,"  said  Budge. 

"Old  riverzh  bwoke  wight  in  two  dere," 
said  Toddie,  "  an'  a  piece  of  it's  way  up  in  de 
air,  an'  anuvver  piece  izh  way  down  in  big 
hole  in  de  stones.  Datsh  where  I  want  to 
go  widin'." 

"  Listen,  Toddie,"  said  Mrs.  Burton.  "  We 
like  to  take  you  riding  with  us  at  most  times, 
but  to-day  we  prefer  to  go  alone.  You  and 
Budge  will  stay  at  home.  We  sha'n't  be  gone 
more  than  two  hours." 

"  Wantsh  to  go  a-widin',"  exclaimed  Tod 
die. 

"  I  know  you  do,  dear,  but  you  must  wait 
until  some  other  day." 

"But  I  wantsh  to  go,"  Toddie  explained. 

"And  I  don't  want  you  to,  so  you  can't," 
said  Mrs.  Burton  in  a  tone  which  would  re 
duce  any  reasonable  person  to  hopelessness. 
But  Toddie,  in  spite  of  manifest  astonish 
ment,  remarked: 

"  Wantsh  to  go  a-widin'." 

"  Now  the  fight  is  on,"  murmured  Mr.  Bur 
ton  to  himself.  Then  he  arose  hastily  from 
the  table  and  said: 

"  I  think  I'll  try  to  catch  the  earlier  train, 
my  dear,  as  I  am  coming  back  so  soon." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    117 

Mrs.  Burton  arose  to  bid  her  husband 
good-by,  and  was  kissed  with  more  than 
usual  tenderness,  and  then  held  at  arm's 
length,  while  manly  eyes  looked  into  her 
own  with  an  expression  which  she  found  un 
translatable — for  two  hours,  at  least.  Mrs. 
Burton  saw  her  husband  fairly  on  his  way, 
and  then  she  returned  to  the  dining-room, 
led  Toddie  into  the  parlor,  took  him  on  her 
lap,  wound  her  arms  tenderly  about  him, 
and  said: 

"Toddie,  dear,  listen  carefully  to  what 
Aunt  Alice  tells  you.  There  are  some  rea 
sons  why  you  boys  should  not  go  with  us 
to-day,  and  Aunt  Alice  means  what  she  says 
when  she  tells  you  you  can't  go  with  us.  If 
you  were  to  ask  a  hundred  times  it  would  not 
make  the  slightest  bit  of  difference.  You  can 
not  go,  and  you  must  stop  thinking  about  it." 

Toddie  listened  intelligently  from  begin 
ning  to  end,  and  replied :  \ 

"  But  I  wantsh  to  go." 

"And  you  can't.     That  ends  the  matter." 

"  No,  it  don't,"  said  Toddie;  " not  a  single 
bittie.  I  wantsh  to  go  badder  dan  ever." 

"  But  you  are  not  going." 

"I  wantsh  to  go  so  baddy,"  said  Toddie, 
beginning  to  cry. 


u8     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  I  suppose  you  do,  and  auntie  is  very 
sorry  for  you,  but  that  does  not  alter  the 
case.  When  grown  people  say  'No!'  little 
boys  must  understand  that  they  mean  it." 

"  But  what  I  wantsh  izh  to  go  a-widin' 
wif  you." 

"  And  what  I  want  is,  that  you  shall  stay 
at  home ;  so  you  must.  Let  us  have  no  more 
talk  about  it  now.  Shouldn't  you  like  to  go 
into  the  garden  and  pick  some  strawberries 
all  for  yourself?" 

"  No,  I  'd  like  to  go  widin'. ' ' 

"  Toddie,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "  don't  let  me 
hear  one  more  word  about  riding." 

"Well,  I  want  to  go." 

"Toddie,  I  will  have  to  punish  you  if  you 
say  any  more  on  this  subject,  and  that  will 
make  me  very  unhappy.  You  don't  want 
to  make  auntie  unhappy  on  her  birthday, 
do  you?" 

"No;  but  I  do  want  to  go  a-widin'." 

"Listen,  Toddie,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  with 
an  imperious  stamp  of  her  foot,  and  a  sudden 
loss  of  her  entire  stock  of  patience.  "  If  you 
say  one  more  word  about  that  trip,  I  shall 
lock  you  in  the  attic  chamber,  where  you 
were  the  day  before  yesterday,  and  Budge 
shall  not  be  with  you." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    119 


Toddie  gave  vent  to  a  torrent  of  tears,  and 
screamed : 

"A — h — h — h!    I  don't  want  to  be  locked 
up,  an'  I  do  want  to  go  a-widin'!" 

Toddie     suddenly 
found   himself  clasped 
tightly    in    his    aunt's 
arms,   in   which 
position    he 
kicked,  pushed, 
screamed     and 


HE   KICKED,    PUSHED,    SCREAMED   AND  ROARED 

roared  during  the  passage  of  two  flights  of 
stairs.  The  moment  of  his  final  incarcera 
tion  was  marked  by  a  piercing  shriek  which 


120     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

escaped  from  the  attic-window,  causing  the 
dog  Terry  to  retire  precipitately  from  a 
pleasing  lounging  place  on  the  well-curb,  and 
making  a  passing  farmer  to  rein  up  his  horses 
and  maintain  a  listening  position  for  the 
space  of  five  minutes.  Meanwhile  Mrs.  Bur 
ton  descended  to  the  parlor,  more  flushed, 
untidy  and  -angry  than  any  one  had  ever 
seen  her.  She  soon  encountered  the  gaze  of 
her  nephew  Budge,  and  it  was  full  of  solem 
nity,  inquiry  and  reproach. 

"  How  would  you  like  to  be  carried  up 
stairs  screamin'  an'  put  in  a  lonely  room, 
just  'cause  you  wanted  to  go  ridin'?"  Budge 
asked. 

Mrs.  Burton  was  unable  to  imagine  herself 
in  any  such  position,  but  replied: 

"  I  should  never  be  so  foolish  as  to  keep  on 
wanting  what  I  knew  I  could  not  have." 

"Why!"  exclaimed  Budge.  "Are  grown 
folks  as  smart  as  all  that  ? ' ' 

Mrs.  Burton's  conscience  smote  her  not 
overlightly,  and  she  hastened  to  change  the 
subject,  and  to  devote  herself  assiduously  to 
Budge,  as  if  to  atone  for  some  injury  which 
she  might  have  done  his  brother.  An  occa 
sional  howl  which  fell  from  the  attic-window 
increased  her  zeal  for  Budge's  comfort; 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    121 

under  each  one,  however,  her  resolution 
grew  weaker,  and,  finally,  with  a  hypocritical 
excuse  to  Budge,  she  hurried  up  to  the  door 
of  Toddie's  prison  and  said  through  the  key 
hole: 

"Toddie?" 

"What?" 

"  Will  you  be  a  good  boy,  now? " 

'  Yesh,  if  you'll  take  me  a-widin'." 

Mrs.  Burton  turned  abruptly  away,  and 
simply  flew  down  the  stairs.  Budge,  who 
awaited  her  at  the  foot,  instinctively  stood 
aside,  and  exclaimed: 

"  I  thought  you  was  goin'  to  tumble!  Why 
didn't  you  bring  him  down?" 

"Bring  who?" 

"  Oh,  I  know  what  you  went  up-stairs  for," 
said  Budge.  ;<  Your  eyes  told  me  all  about 
it." 

:'You're  certainly  a  rather  inconvenient 
companion,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  averting  her 
face,  "  and  I  want  you  to  run  home  and  ask 
how  your  mamma  and  baby-sister  are. 
Don't  stay  long:  remember  that  luncheon 
will  be  earlier  than  usual  to-day." 

Away  went  Budge,  and  Mrs.  Burton  de 
voted  herself  to  thought.  Unquestioning 
obedience  had  been  her  own  duty  since  she 


122     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

could  remember,  yet  she  was  certain  that  her 
will  was  as  strong  as  Toddie's.  If  she  had 
been  always  able  to  obey,  certainly  the  un 
happy  little  boy  in  the  attic  was  equally  ca 
pable  ;  why  should  he  not  do  it  ?  Perhaps,  she 
admitted  to  herself,  she  had  inherited  a  fac 
ulty  in  this  direction,  and  perhaps — yes,  cer 
tainly,  Toddie  had  done  nothing  of  the  sort. 
How  was  she  to  overcome  the  defect  in  his 
disposition ;  or  was  she  to  do  it  at  all  ?  Was 
it  not  something  with  which  no  one  tem 
porarily  having  a  child  in  charge  should 
interfere  ? 

An  occasional  scream  from  Toddie  helped 
to  unbend  the  severity  of  her  principles,  but 
suddenly  her  eye  rested  upon  a  picture  of 
her  husband,  and  she  seemed  to  see  in  one  of 
the  eyes  a  quizzical  expression.  All  her  de 
termination  came  back  in  an  instant  with 
heavy  re-enforcements,  and  Budge  came  back 
a  few  moments  later.  His  bulletins  from 
home,  and  his  stores  of  experiences  en  route 
consumed  but  a  few  moments,  and  then  Mrs. 
Burton  proceeded  to  dress  for  her  ride.  To 
exclude  Toddie's  screams  she  closed  her  door 
tightly,  but  Toddie's  voice  was  one  with 
which  all  timber  seemed  in  sympathy,  and  it 
pierced  door  and  window  apparently  without 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    123 

effort.  Gradually,  however,  it  seemed  to 
cease,  and  with  the  growing  infrequency  of 
his  howls  and  the  increasing  feebleness  of 
their  utterance,  Mrs.  Burton's  spirits  re 
vived.  Dressing  leisurely,  she  ascended  to 
Toddie's  prison  to  receive  his  declaration  of 
penitence  and  to  accord  a  gracious  pardon. 
She  knocked  softly  at  the  door  and  said: 

"Toddie?" 

There  was  no  response,  so  Mrs.  Burton 
knocked  and  called  with  more  energy  than 
before,  but  without  reply.  A  terrible  fear 
occurred  to  her;  she  had  heard  of  children 
who  screamed  themselves  to  death  when  an 
gry.  Hastily  she  opened  the  door,  and  saw 
Toddie,  tear-stained  and  dirty,  lying  on  the 
floor,  fast  asleep.  She  stooped  over  him  to 
be  sure  that  he  still  breathed,  and  then  the 
expression  on  his  sweetly  parted  lips  was  such 
that  she  could  not  help  kissing  it.  Then  she 
raised  the  pathetic,  desolate  little  figure 
softly  in  her  arms,  and  the  little  head  drop 
ped  upon  her  shoulder  and  nestled  close  to 
her,  and  one  little  arm  was  clasped  tightly 
around  her  neck,  and  a  soft  voice  mur 
mured  : 

"  I  wantsh  to  go  a-widin'." 

Just  then  Mr.  Burton  entered,  and,  with 


i24     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

an  exasperating  affectation  of  ingenuousness 
and  uncertainty  asked : 

"Did  you  conquer  his  will,  my  dear?" 

His  wife  annihilated  him  with  a  look,  and 
led  the  way  to  the  dining-room;  meanwhile, 
Toddie  awoke,  straightened  himself,  rubbed 
his  eyes,  recognized  his  uncle,  and  exclaimed: 

"  Uncle  Harry,  does  you  know  where  we's 
goin'  dis  afternoon?  We's  go  in'  a-widin'." 

Mr.  Burton  hid  in  his  napkin  the  half  of 
his  face  that  was  below  his  eyes,  and  his  wife 
wished  that  his  eyes  might  have  been  hidden 
too,  for  never  in  her  life  had  she  been  so 
averse  to  having  her  own  eyes  looked  into. 

The  saintliness  of  both  boys  during  the 
afternoon's  ride  took  the  sting  out  of  Mrs. 
Burton 's  defeat .  They  gabbled  to  each  other 
about  flowers  and  leaves  and  birds,  and  they 
assumed  ownership  of  the  few  summer  clouds 
that  were  visible,  and  made  sundry  ex 
changes  of  them  with  each  other.  When  the 
dog  Terry,  who  had  surreptitiously  followed 
the  carriage  and  grown  weary,  was  taken  in 
by  his  master  they  even  allowed  him  to  lie 
at  their  feet  without  kicking,  pinching  his 
ears  or  pulling  his  tail. 

As  for  Mrs.  Burton,  no  right-minded  hus 
band  could  wilfully  torment  his  wife  upon 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   125 

her  birthday,  so  she  soon  forgot  the  humilia 
tion  of  the  morning,  and  came  home  with 
superb  spirits  and  matchless  complexion  for 
the  little  party.  Her  guests  soon  began  to 
arrive,  and  after  the  company  had  assem- 


THE  JARDINIERE  CAME    DOWN    WITH  A  CRASH 

bled  Mrs.  Burton's  chambermaid  ushered  in 
Budge  and  Toddie,  each  in  spotless  attire, 
and  the  dog  Terry  ushered  himself  in,  and 
Toddie  saw  him  and  made  haste  to  interview 
him,  and  the  two  got  inextricably  mixed 
about  the  legs  of  a  light  jardiniere,  and  it 
came  down  with  a  crash,  and  then  the  two 


126     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

were  sent  into  disgrace,  which  suited  them 
exactly,  although  there  was  a  difference  be 
tween  them  as  to  whether  the  dog  Terry 
should  seek  and  enjoy  the  seclusion  upon 
which  his  heart  was  evidently  intent. 

Then  Budge  retired  with  a  face  full  of 
brotherly  solicitude,  and  Mrs.  Burton  was 
enabled  to  devote  herself  to  the  friends  to 
whom  she  had  not  previously  been  able  to 
address  two  consecutive  sentences. 

Mrs.  Burton  occasionally  suggested  to  her 
husband  that  it  might  be  well  to  see  where 
the  boys  were  and  what  they  were  doing,  but 
that  gentleman  had  seldom  before  found  him 
self  the  only  man  among  a  dozen  comely  and 
intelligent  ladies,  and  he  was  too  conscious 
of  the  rarity  of  such  experiences  to  trouble 
himself  about  a  couple  of  people  who  had  un 
limited  ability  to  keep  themselves  out  of 
sight,  so  the  boys  were  undisturbed  for  the 
space  of  two  hours.  A  sudden  summer 
shower  came  up  in  the  meantime,  and  a  senti 
mental  young  lady  requested  the  song  "  The 
Rain  upon  the  Roof,"  and  Mrs.  Burton  and 
her  husband  began  to  render  it  as  a  duet; 
but  in  the  middle  of  the  second  stanza  Mrs. 
Burton  began  to  cough,  and  Mr.  Burton 
sniffed  the  air  apprehensively,  while  several 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   127 

of  the  ladies  started  to  their  feet,  while  others 
turned  pale.  The  air  of  the  room  was  evi 
dently  filling  with  smoke. 

'There  can't  be  any  danger,  ladies,"  said 
Mrs.  Burton.  "  You  all  know  what  the 
American,  domestic  servant  is.  I  suppose 
our  cook,  with  her  delicate  sense  of  the  ap 
propriate,  is  relighting  her  fire,  and  has  the 
kitchen  door  wide  open,  so  that  all  the  smoke 
may  escape  through  the  house  instead  of  the 
chimney.  I'll  go  and  stop  it." 

The  mere  mention  of  servants  had  its 
usual  effect;  the  ladies  began  at  once  that 
animated  conversation  which  this  subject 
has  always  inspired,  and  which  it  will  proba 
bly  continue  to  inspire  until  all  housekeepers 
gather  in  that  happy  land,  one  of  whose 
charms  it  is  that  the  American  kitchen  is 
undiscernible  within  its  borders,  and  the  puri 
fied  domestic  may  stand  before  her  mistress 
without  needing  a  scolding.  But  one  nerv 
ous  young  lady,  whose  agitation  was  being 
manifested  by  her  feet  alone,  happened  to 
touch  with  the  toe  of  her  boot  the  turn-screw 
of  a  hot-air  register.  Instantly  she  sprang 
back  and  uttered  a  piercing  scream,  while 
from  the  register  there  arose  a  thick  column 
of  smoke. 


128     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  Fire ! ' '  screamed  one  lady. 

"Water!"  shrieked  another. 

"Oh!"  shouted  several  in  chorus. 

Some  ran  upstairs,  others  into  the  rainy 
street,  the  nervous  young  lady  fainted,  a 
business-like  young  matron,  who  had  for 
years  been  maturing  plans  of  operation  in 
case  of  fire,  hastily  swept  into  a  table-cover 
a  dozen  books  in  special  morocco  bindings, 
and  hurried  through  the  rain  with  them  to  a 
house  several  hundred  feet  away,  while  the 
faithful  dog  Terry,  scenting  the  trouble  afar 
off,  hurried  home  and  did  his  duty  to  the 
best  of  his  ability  by  barking  and  snapping 
furiously  at  every  one,  and  galloping  fran 
tically  through  the  house,  leaving  his  mark 
upon  almost  every  square  yard  of  carpet. 
Meanwhile  Mr.  Burton  hurried  up-stairs 
coatless,  with  disarranged  hair,  dirty  hands, 
smirched  face,  and  assured  the  ladies  that 
there  was  no  danger,  while  Budge  and  Tod- 
die,  the  former  deadly  pale,  and  the  latter 
almost  apopletic  in  color,  sneaked  up  to  their 
own  chamber. 

The  company  dispersed;  ladies  who  had 
expected  carriages  did  not  wait  for  them, 
but  struggled  to  the  extreme  verge  of  polite 
ness  for  the  use  of  such  umbrellas  and  water- 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    129 

proof  cloaks  as  Mrs.  Burton  could  supply. 
Fifteen  minutes  later  the  only  occupant  of 
the  parlor  was  the  dog  Terry,  who  lay,  with 
alert  head,  in  the  centre  of  a  large  Turkish 
chair.  Mrs.  Burton,  tenderly  supported  by 
her  husband,  descended  the  stair,  and  con 
templated  with  tightly  compressed  lips  and 
blazing  eyes  the  disorder  of  her  desolated 
parlor.  When,  however,  she  reached  the 
dining-room  and  beheld  the  exquisitely  set 
table,  to  the  arrangement  of  which  she  had 
devoted  hours  of  thought  in  preceding  days 
and  weeks,  she  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears. 

"I'll  tell  you  how  it  was,"  said  Budge,  who 
appeared  suddenly  and  without  invitation, 
and  whose  consciousness  of  good  intention 
made  him  as  adamant  before  the  indignant 
frowns  of  his  uncle  and  aunt,  "  I  always  think 
bonfires  is  the  nicest  things  about  celebra 
tions,  an'  Tod  an'  me  have  been  carryin' 
sticks  for  two  days  to  make  a  big  bonfire  in 
the  back  yard  to-day.  But  it  rained,  an' 
rainy  sticks  won't  burn.  So  we  thought  we'd 
make  one  in  the  cellar,  'cause  the  top  is  all 
tin,  an'  the  bottom's  all  dirt,  an'  it  can't  rain 
in  there  at  all.  An'  we  got  lots  of  newspa 
pers  and  kindlin'-wood,  an'  put  some  kero 
sene  on  it,  an'  it  blazed  up  beautiful,  an'  we 


i3o     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

was  just  comin'  up  to  ask  you  all  down  to 
look  at  it,  when  in  came  Uncle  Harry,  an' 
banged  me  against  the  wall  an'  Tod  into  the 
coal  heap,  an'  threw  a  mean  old  dirty  carpet 
on  top  of  it,  an'  wetted  it  all  over." 

"  Little  boysh  never  can  do  anyfing  nysh 
wivout  bein'  made  to  don't,"  said  Toddie. 
"  Dzust  see  what  an  awful  big  splinter  I  got 
in  my  hand  when  I  was  froin'  wood  on  de 
fire!  I  didn't  cry  a  bit  about  it  den,  'cause  I 
fought  I  was  makin'  uvver  folks  happy,  like 
de  Lord  wants  little  boysh  to.  But  dey 
didn't  get  happy,  so  now  I'm  goin'  to  cry 
'bout  de  splinter!" 

And  Toddie  raised  a  howl  which  was  as 
much  superior  to  his  usual  cry  as  things  made 
to  order  generally  are  to  the  ordinary  sup 
ply. 

"  We  had  a  torchlight  procession  too, "  said 
Budge.  "  We  had  to  have  it  in  the  attic,  but 
it  wasn't  very  nice.  There  wasn't  any  trees 
up  there  for  the  light  to  dance  around  on,  like 
it  does  on  'lection-day  nights.  So  we  just 
stopped,  an'  would  have  felt  real  doleful  if 
we  hadn't  thought  of  the  bonfire." 

"  Where  did  you  leave  the  torches  ? ' '  asked 
Mr.  Burton,  springing  from  his  chair,  and 
lifting  his  wife  to  her  feet  at  the  same  time. 


'THREW  A  MEAN  OLD  DIRTY  CARPET  ON  TOP  OF  IT 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    131 

"  I — I  dunno, "  said  Budge,  after  a  moment 
of  thought. 

"  Froed  'em  in  a  closet  so's  not  to  dyty  de 
nice  floor  wif  'em,"  said  Toddie. 

Mr.  Burton  hurried  up-stairs  and  extin 
guished  a  smoldering  heap  of  rags,  while  his 
wife,  truer  to  herself  than  she  imagined  she 
was,  drew  Budge  to  her,  and  said,  kindly: 

"  Wanting  to  make  people  happy,  and 
doing  it,  are  two  very  different  things, 
Budge." 

'Yes,  I  should  think  they  was,"  said 
Budge,  with  an  emphasis  which  explained 
much  that  was  left  unsaid. 

"  Little  boysh  is  goosies  for  try  in'  to  make 
big  folksh  happy  at  all,"  said  Toddie,  begin 
ning  again  to  cry. 

"  Oh,  no,  they're  not,  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Bur 
ton,  taking  the  sorrowful  child  on  her  lap. 
"  But  they  don't  always  understand  how  best 
to  do  it,  so  they  ought  to  ask  big  folks  before 
they  begin." 

"Den  dere  wouldn't  be  no  s 'prises,"  com 
plained  Toddie.  "  Say,  izh  we  goin'  to  eat 
all  dis  supper?" 

"I  suppose  so,  if  we  can,"  sighed  Mrs. 
Burton. 

"I  guesh  we  can — Budgie  an'  me,"  said 


132     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

Toddie.  "An'  won't  we  be  glad  all  them 
wimmens  wented  awray ! ' ' 

That  evening,  after  the  boys  had  retired, 
Mrs.  Burton  seemed  a  little  uneasy  of  mind, 
and  at  length  she  said  to  her  husband: 

"  I  feel  guilty  at  never  having  directed  the 
boys'  devotions  since  they  have  been  here, 
and  I  know  no  better  time  than  the  present 
in  which  to  begin." 

Mr.  Burton's  eyes  followed  his  wife  rever 
ently  as  she  left  the  room.  The  service  she 
proposed  to  render  the  children  she  had 
sometimes  performed  for  himself,  with  re 
sults  for  which  he  could  not  be  grateful 
enough,  and  yet  it  was  not  with  unalloyed 
anticipation  that  he  softly  followed  her  up 
the  stair.  Mrs.  Burton  went  into  the  cham 
ber  and  found  the  boys  playing  battering- 
ram,  each  with  a  pillow  in  front  of  him. 

"Children,"  said  she,  "have  you  said  your 
prayers  ? ' ' 

"  No,"  said  Budge ;  "  somebody's  got  to  be 
knocked  down  first.  Then  we  will." 

A  sudden  tumble  by  Toddie  was  the  signal 
for  devotional  exercises,  and  both  boys  knelt 
beside  the  bed. 

"Now,  darlings,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "you 
have  made  some  sad  mistakes  to-day,  and 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    133 

they  should  teach  you  that,  even  when  you 
want  most  to  do  right,  you  need  to  be  helped 
by  somebody  better.  Don't  you  think  so?" 

"I  do,"  said  Budge.     "Lots." 

"I  don't,"  said  Toddie.  "More  help  I 
getsh,  de  worse  rings  is.  Guesh  I'll  do  rings 
all  alone  affer  dish." 

"  I  know  what  to  say  to  the  Lord  to-night, 
Aunt  Alice,"  said  Budge. 

"  Dear  little  boy,"  said  Mrs.  Burton.  "  Go 
on/' 

"Dear  Lord,"  said  Budge,  "we  do  have 
the  awfullest  times  when  we  try  to  make 
other  folks  happy.  Do,  please,  Lord,  please 
teach  big  folks  how  hard  little  folks  have  to 
think  before  they  do  things  for  'em.  An' 
make  'em  understand  little  folks  every  way 
better  than  they  do,  so  that  they  don't  make 
little  folks  unhappy  when  they  try  to  make 
big  folks  feel  jolly.  Make  big  folks  have  to 
think  as  hard  as  little  folks  do.  Amen!  Oh 
yes,  an'  bless  dear  mamma  an'  the  sweet  little 
sister  baby.  How's  that,  Aunt  Alice?" 

Mrs.  Burton  did  not  reply,  and  Budge,  on 
turning,  saw  only  her  departing  figure,  while 
Toddie  remarked: 

"Now  it's  my  tyne.  Dear  Lord,  when  I 
getsh  to  be  a  little  boy  anzel  up  in  hebben, 


i34     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

don't  let  growed-up  anzels  come  along  when 
ever  I'm  doin'  anyfing  nysh  for  'em,  an'  say 
'  don't '  or  tumble  me  down  in  heaps  of  nashty 
old  black  coal.  Dere!  Amen!" 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    135 


CHAPTER  V 

IT  was  with  a  sneaking  sense  of  relief  that 
Mrs.  Burton  awoke  on  the  following  morn 
ing,  and  realized  that  the  day  was  Sunday 

"  Even  school-teachers  have  two  days  of 
rest  in  every  seven,"  she  said  to  herself,  "and 
no  one  doubts  that  they  deserve  them.  How 
much  more  deserving  of  rest  and  relief  must 
be  the  volunteer  teacher  who,  not  for  a  few 
hours  only,  but  from  dawn  to  twilight,  has 
charge  of  two  children  whose  capacity  for 
both  learning  and  mischief  surely  equals  any 
school  full  of  boys." 

The  feeling  that  she  was  attempting  for  a 
few  days  only  that  which  mothers  every 
where  were  doing  without  hope  of  rest  except 
ing  in  heaven,  made  her  feel  humble  and 
worthless,  but  it  did  not  banish  her  wish  to 
turn  the  children  over  to  the  care  of  their 
uncle  for  the  day.  Thoughts  of  a  Sunday 
excursion,  from  participation  in  which  she 
should  in  some  way  excuse  herself ;  of  volun 
teering  to  relieve  her  sister-in-law's  nurse 
during  the  day,  and  thus  leaving  her  husband, 
in  charge  of  the  house  and  the  children;  of 


136     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

making  that  visit  to  her  mother  which  is 
always  in  order  with  the  young  wife — all 
these,  and  other  devices  not  so  practicable, 
came  before  her  mind's  eye  for  comparison, 
but  they  all  and  together  took  sudden  wing 
when  her  husband  awoke  and  complained  of 
a  raging  toothache.  Truly  pitiful  and  sym 
pathetic  as  Mrs.  Burton  was,  she  exhibited 
remarkable  resignation  in  the  face  of  the 
thought  that  her  husband  would  probably 
need  to  remain  in  his  room  all  day,  and  that  it 
would  be  absolutely  necessary  to  keep  the 
children  out  of  his  sight  and  hearing.  Then 
he  could  find  nothing  to  criticise;  she  might 
fail  frequently,  as  she  probably  would,  but  he 
would  know  only  of  her  successes. 

A  light  knock  was  heard  at  Mrs.  Burton's 
door,  and  then,  without  waiting  for  invitation 
there  came  in  two  fresh,  rosy  faces,  two  heads 
of  disarranged  hair,  and  two  long  white  night 
gowns,  and  the  occupant  of  the  longer  gown 
exclaimed : 

"  Say,  Uncle  Harry,  do  you  know  it's  Sun 
day?  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it? 
We  always  have  lots  done  for  us  Sundays, 
'cause  it's  the  only  day  papa's  home." 

"Yes,  I — think  I've  heard — something  of 
the  kind — before,"  mumbled  Mr.  Burton, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    137 

with  difficulty,  between  the  fingers  that  cov 
ered  his  aching  tooth. 

"Oh— h,"  exclaimed  Toddie,  "I  b'lieve 
he's  goin'  to  play  bear!  Come  on,  Budgie, 
we's  got  to  be  dogs."  And  Toddie  buried 
his  face  in  the  bed-covering  and  succeeded  in 
fastening  his  teeth  in  his  uncle's  calf.  A 
howl  from  the  sufferer  did  not  frighten  off  the 


TODDIE  PLAYING   BEAR 


amateur  dog,  and  he  was  finally  dislodged  only 
by  being  clutched  by  the  throat  by  his  victim . 
"  Dat  izhn't  de  way  to  play  bear,"  com 
plained  Toddie.  'You  ought  to  keep  on 
a-howlin',  an'  let  me  keep  on  a-bitin',  an'  den 
you  give  me  pennies  to  stop.  Dat's  de  way 
papa  does." 


i38    BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  Can  you  see  how  Tom  Lawrence  can  be 
so  idiotic?"  asked  Mrs.  Burton. 

"I  suppose  I  could,"  replied  the  sufferer, 
"  if  I  hadn't  such  a  toothache." 

"  You  poor  old  fellow!"  said  Mrs.  Burton, 
tenderly.  Then  she  turned  to  her  nephews, 
and  exclaimed:  "Now,  boys,  listen  to  me! 
Uncle  Harry  is  very  sick  to-day — he  has  a 
dreadful  toothache,  and  every  particle  of 
bother  and  noise  will  make  it  worse.  You 
must  both  keep  away  from  his  room,  and  be 
as  quiet  as  possible  wherever  you  may  be  in 
the  house.  Even  the  sound  of  people  talk 
ing  is  very  annoying  to  a  person  with  the 
toothache." 

"  Den  you's  a  baddy  woman  to  stay  in 
here  an'  keep  a-talkin'  all  de  whole  time," 
said  Toddie,  "when  it  makes  poor  old  Uncle 
Harry  hurt  so.  G'way." 

Mrs.  Burton's  lord  and  master  was  not  in 
too  much  pain  to  shake  with  silent  laughter 
at  this  rebuke,  and  the  lady  herself  was  too 
startled  to  devise  an  appropriate  retort,  so 
the  boys  amused  themselves  by  a  general 
exploration  of  the  chamber,  not  omitting  the 
pockets  of  their  uncle's  clothing.  This  work 
completed  to  the  full  extent  of  their  ability, 
they  demanded  breakfast. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    139 

"  Breakfast  won't  be  ready  until  eight 
o'clock,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "and  it  is  now 
only  six.  If  you  little  boys  don't  wish  to 
feel  dreadfully  hungry  you  had  better  go  back 
to  bed  and  lie  as  quiet  as  possible." 

"  Is  dat  de  way  not  to  be  hungry?"  asked 
Toddie,  with  the  wide-open  eyes,  which 
always  accompany  the  receptive  mind. 

"Certainly,"  said  Mrs.  Burton.  "If  you 
run  about,  you  agitate  your  stomachs,  and 
that  makes  them  restless,  so  you  feel  hun- 

gry." 

"  Gwacious ! ' '  said  Toddie.  "  What  lots  of 
rings  little  boys  has  got  to  lyne,  hazn't  dey? 
Come  on,  Budgie;  let's  go  put  our  tummuks 
to  bed,  an 'keep  'em  from  gettin'  ajjerytated." 

"  All  right,"  said  Budge.  "  But  say,  Aunt 
Alice,  don't  you  s'pose  our  stomachs  would 
be  sleepier  an'  not  so  restless  if  there  was 
some  crackers  or  bread  an'  butter  in  'em? " 

'There's  no  one  down-stairs  to  get  you 
any,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"  Oh,"  said  Budge,  "  we  can  find  'em.  We 
know  where  everything  is  in  the  pantries  and 
storeroom." 

"I  wish  I  were  so  clever,"  sighed  Mrs. 
Burton.  "  Go  along;  get  what  you  like,  but 
don't  come  back  to  this  room  again.  And 


i4o     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

don't  let  me  find  anything  in  disorder  down 
stairs,  or  I  shall  never  trust  you  in  my  kitchen 
again." 

Away  flew  the  children,  but  their  disap 
pearance  only  made  room  for  a  new  torment, 
for  Mr.  Burton  stopped  in  the  middle  of  the 
operation  of  shaving  himself,  and  remarked: 

"  I've  been  longing  for  Sunday  to  come,  for 
your  sake,  my  dear.  The  boys,  as  you  have 
frequently  observed,  have  very  strange  no 
tions  about  good  things;  but  they  are  also, 
by  nature,  quite  spiritually  minded.  You 
are  not  only  this  latter,  but  you  are  free  from 
strange  doctrines  and  the  traditions  of  men. 
The  mystical  influences  of  the  day  will  make 
themselves  felt  upon  those  innocent  little 
hearts,  and  you  will  have  an  opportunity  to 
correct  wrong  teachings  and  instill  new  sen 
timents  and  truths." 

Mr.  Burton's  voice  had  grown  a  bit  shaky 
as  he  reached  the  close  of  this  neat  little 
speech,  so  that  his  wife  scrutinized  his  face 
closely  to  see  if  there  might  not  be  a  laugh 
somewhere  about  it.  A  friendly  coating  of 
lather  protected  one  cheek,  however,  and  the 
troublesome  tooth  had  distorted  the  shape 
of  the  other,  so  Mrs.  Burton  was  compelled 
to  accept  the  mingled  ascription  of  praise 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   141 

and  responsibility,  which  she  did  with  a 
sinking  heart. 

"I'll  take  care  of  them  while  you're  at 
church,  my  dear, "  said  Mr.  Burton.  "  They're 
always  saintly  with  sick  people." 

Mrs.  Burton  breathed  a  sigh  of  relief.  She 
determined  that  she  would  extemporize  a 
special  "Children's  Service"  immediately 
after  breakfast,  and  impress  her  nephews  as 
fully  as  possible  with  the  spirit  of  the  day; 
then  if  her  husband  would  but  continue  the 
good  work  thus  begun,  it  would  be  impossible 
for  the  boys  to  fall  from  grace  in  the  few 
hours  which  remained  between  dinner  time 
and  darkness.  Full  of  her  project,  and  for 
getting  that  she  had  allowed  her  chamber 
maid  to  go  to  early  service,  and  promised  her 
self  to  see  that  the  children  were  dressed  for 
breakfast,  Mrs.  Burton,  at  the  breakfast- 
table,  noticed  that  her  nephews  did  not  re 
spond  with  their  usual  alacrity  to  the  call  of 
the  bell.  Recalling  her  forgotten  duty,  she 
hurried  to  the  boys'  chamber,  and  found 
them  already  enjoying  a  repast  which  was 
remarkable  for  variety.  On  a  small  table, 
drawn  to  the  side  of  the  bed,  was  a  pie,  a 
bowl  of  pickles,  a  dish  of  honey  in  the  comb, 
and  a  small  package  of  cinnamon  bark ;  with 


142     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

spoons,  knives  and  forks  and  fingers  the  boys 
were  helping  themselves  to  these  delicacies. 
Seeing  his  aunt,  Toddie  looked  rather  guilty, 
but  Budge  displayed  the  smile  of  the  fully 
justified,  and  remarked: 

"  Now,  you  know  what  kind  of  meals  little 
boys  like,  Aunt  Alice.  I  hope  you  won't 
forget  it  while  we're  here." 

"What  do  you  mean!"  exclaimed  Mrs. 
Burton,  sternly,  "by  bringing  such  things 
up-stairs  ? ' ' 

"Why,"  said  Budge,  "you  told  us  to  get 
what  we  wanted,  an'  we  supposed  you  told 
the  troof." 

"  An'  I  ain't  azh  hungry  azh  I  wazh,"  said 
Toddie,  "  but  my  tummuk  feels  as  if  it  growed 
big  and  got  little  again,  every  minute  or  two, 
an'  it  hurts.  I  wishes  we  could  put  tum- 
muks  away  when  we  get  done  usin'  'em,  like 
we  do  hats  an'  over-shoes." 

To  sweep  the  remains  of  the  unique  morn 
ing  lunch  into  a  heap  and  away  from  her 
nephews,  was  a  work  which  occupied  but  a 
second  or  two  of  Mrs.  Burton's  time;  this 
done,  two  little  boys  found  themselves  robed 
more  rapidly  tjian  they  had  ever  before  been. 
Arrived  at  the  breakfast-table,  they  eyed 
with  withering  contempt  an  irreproachable 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   143 

cutlet,  some  crisp  brown  potatoes  of  wafer- 
like  thinness,  and  a  heap  of  rolls  almost  as 
light  as  snowflakes. 

"  We  don't  want  none  of  this  kind  of  break 
fast,"  said  Budge. 

"  Of  coursh  we  don't,"  said  Toddie,  "  when 
we's  so  awful  full  of  uvver  rings.  I  don't 
know  where  I'zhe  goin'  to  put  my  dinner 
when  it  comes  time  to  eat  it." 

"  Don't  fret  about  that,  Tod,"  said  Budge. 
"  Don't  you  know  papa  says  that  the  Bible 
says  somethin'  that  means  'don't  worry  till 
you  have  to '  ? " 

Mrs.  Burton  raised  her  eyebrows  with  hor 
ror  not  unmixed  with  inquiry,  and  her  hus 
band  hastened  to  give  Budge's  sentiment  its 
proper  biblical  wording,  "  Sufficient  unto  the 
day  is  the  evil  thereof."  Mrs.  Burton's 
wonder  was  allayed  by  the  explanation,  al 
though  her  horror  was  not,  and  she  made 
haste  to  say : 

"  Boys,  we  will  have  a  little  Sunday-school, 
all  by  ourselves,  in  the  parlor  immediately 
after  breakfast." 

"Hooray!"  shouted  Budge.  "An'  will 
you  give  us  a  ticket  an'  pass  around  a  box  for 
pennies,  just  like  they  do  in  big  Sunday- 
schools  ? ' ' 


144     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"I — suppose  so,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  who 
had  not  previously  thought  of  these  special 
attractions  of  the  successful  Sunday-school. 

"Let's  go  right  in,  Tod,"  said  Budge, 
'  'cause  the  dog's  in  there.  I  saw  him  as  I 
came  down,  and  I  shut  all  the  doors  so 
he  couldn't  get  out.  We  can  have  some 
fun  with  him  'fore  Sunday-school  be 
gins." 

Both  boys  started  for  the  parlor-door,  and, 
guided  by  that  marvellous  instinct  with 
which  Providence  arms  the  few  against  the 
many,  and  the  weak  against  the  strong,  the 
dog  Terry,  also  approached  the  door  from 
the  inside.  As  the  door  opened  there  was 
heard  a  convulsive  howl,  and  a  general  tum 
bling  of  small  boys,  while  at  almost  the  same 
instant  Terry  flew  into  the  dining-room  and 
hid  himself  in  the  folds  of  his  mistress's  morn 
ing  robe.  Two  or  three  minutes  later  Budge 
entered  the  dining-room  with  a  very  rueful 
countenance,  and  remarked: 

"  I  guess  we  need  that  Sunday-school 
pretty  quick,  Aunt  Alice.  The  dog  don't 
want  to  play  with  us,  and  we  ought  to  be 
comforted  some  way." 

'They're  grown  people,  all  over  again," 
remarked  Mr.  Burton,  with  a  laugh. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    145 

"What  do  you  mean?"  demanded  Mrs. 
Burton. 

"Only  this;  when  their  own  devices  fail, 
they're  in  a  hurry  for  the  consolations  of 
religion.  May  I  visit  the  Sunday-school?" 

"  I  suppose  I  can't  keep  you  away,"  sighed 
Mrs.  Burton,  leading  the  way  to  the  parlor. 
"  Boys, "  said  she,  greeting  her  nephews,  "  first 
we'll  sing  a  little  hymn.  What  shall  it  be ?" 

"Ole  Uncle  Ned,"  said  Toddie. 

"Oh,  that's  not  a  Sunday  song." 

"I  fink  tizh,"  said  Toddie,  ''cause  it 
sayzh,  free  or  four  timezh,  '  He's  gone  where 
de  good  niggers  go,'  an'  dat's  hebben,  you 
know.  So  it's  a  Sunday  song." 

"I  think  'Glory,  glory,  hallelujah!'  is 
nicer,"  said  Budge,  "  an'  I  know  it's  a  Sunday 
song,  'cause  I've  heard  it  in  church." 

"Aw  wight,"  said  Toddie;  and  he  started 
the  old  air  himself,  with  the  words,  "There 
liezh  de  whiskey -bottle,  empty  on  de  sheff," 
but  was  suddenly  brought  to  order  by  a 
shake  from  his  aunt,  while  his  uncle  danced 
about  the  front  parlor  in  an  ecstasy  not 
directly  traceable  to  toothache. 

"That's  not  a  Sunday  song,  either,  Tod 
die,"  said  Mrs.  Burton.  "The  words  are 
real  rowdy ish.  Where  did  you  learn  them  ? ' ' 


146     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  Round  the  corner  from  our  housh,"  said 
Toddie;  "an'  you  can  shing  you  ole  shongs 
yourseff,  if  you  don't  like  mine." 

Mrs.  Burton  went  to  the  piano,  rambled 
among  chords  for  a  few  seconds,  and  finally 
recalled  a  Sunday-school  air  in  which  Toddie 
joined  as  angelically  as  if  his  own  musical 
taste  had  never  been  impugned. 

"  Now,  I  guess  we'd  better  take  up  the  col 
lection  before  any  little  boys  lose  their  pen 
nies,"  said  Budge,  hurrying  to  the  dining- 
room,  and  returning  with  a  strawberry -box 
which  seemed  to  have  been  specially  provided 
for  the  occasion;  this  he  passed  gravely  be 
fore  Toddie,  and  Toddie  held  his  hand  over  it 
as  carefully  as  if  he  were  depositing  hundreds, 
and  then  Toddie  took  the  box  and  passed  it 
before  Budge,  who  made  the  same  dumb 
show,  after  which  Budge  retook  the  box, 
shook  it,  listened,  remarked,  "  It  don't  rattle 
— I  guess  it's  all  paper-money  to-day, ' '  placed 
it  upon  the  mantel,  reseated  himself,  and  re 
marked  : 

"Now  bring  on  your  lesson." 

Mrs.  Burton  opened  her  Bible  with  a  sense 
of  helplessness.  With  the  instinct  of  a  per 
son  given  to  thoroughness,  she  opened  at  the 
beginning  of  the  book,  but  she  speedily 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    147 

closed  it  again.  Turning  the  leaves  rapidly; 
passing,  for  conscience'  sake,  the  record  of 
many  a  battle,  the  details  of  which  would 
have  delighted  the  boys,  and  hurrying  past 
the  prophecies  as  records  not  for  the  minds  of 
children,  she  at  last  reached  the  New  Testa 
ment  and  the  ever-new  story  of  the  only  boy 
who  ever  was  all  that  his  parents  and  rela 
tives  could  wish  him. 

'  The  lesson  will  be  about  Jesus, "  said  Mrs. 
Burton. 

"  Little-boy  Jesus  or  big-man  Jesus  ? ' '  asked 
Toddie. 

"  A— a — both,"  replied  the  teacher,  in  con 
fusion. 

"  Aw  wight,"  said  Toddie.     "  G'won." 

'  There  was  once  a  time  when  all  the  world 
was  in  trouble,  without  knowing  exactly 
why,"  said  Mrs.  Burton;  "but  the  Lord  un 
derstood  it,  for  He  understands  everything." 

"  Does  He  know  how  it  feels  to  be  a  little 
boy,"  asked  Toddie,  "an'  be  sent  to  bed 
when  He  don't  want  to  go  ? " 

"  And  He  determined  to  comfort  the  world, 
as  He  always  does  when  the  world  finds  out  it 
can't  comfort  itself,"  continued  Mrs.  Burton, 
ignoring  her  nephew's  questions. 

"  But  wasn'tderelotsh  of  little  boyzh  den?" 


148     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

asked  Toddie,  "an'  didn't  they  need  to  be 
comforted  as  well  as  big  folks?" 

"  I  suppose  so.  But  He  knew  that  if  He 
comforted  grown  people,  they  would  make 
the  children  happy." 

"  I  wiss  He'd  comfort  you  an'  Uncle  Harry 
ev'ry  mornin',  den,"  said  Toddie.  "G'won." 

"  So  He  sent  His  own  Son — His  only  Son- 
down  to  the  world  to  be  a  dear  little  baby. 
And  while  smart  people  everywhere  \vere 
wondering  what  would  or  could  happen  to 
quiet  the  restless  heart  of  people— 

"  Izh  restless  hearts  like  restless  tum- 
muks?"  interrupted  Toddie.  "Kind  o' 
pumpy  an'  wabbley?" 

"  I  suppose  so." 

"Poor  folks!"  said  Toddie,  clasping  his 
hands  over  his  waistband.  "  I'zhe  sorry  for 
'em." 

"  While  smart  folks  were  trying  to  think  out 
what  should  be  done,"  continued  Mrs.  Bur 
ton,  "  some  shepherds,  who  used  to  sit  around 
at  night  under  the  moon  and  stars,  and  won 
der  about  things  which  they  could  not  under 
stand,  saw  a  wonderfully  bright  star  in  the 
sky." 

"  Was  it  one  of  the  twinkle-twinkle  kind,  or 
one  of  the  stand-still  kind  ? ' '  asked  Toddie. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     149 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  after  a 
moment's  reflection.  "Why  do  you  ask?" 

"  'Cauzh,"  said  Toddie,  "I  know  what 
'twazh  dere  for,  an'  it  ought  to  have  twinkled, 
'cauzh  twinkley  stars  bob  open  an'  shut  dat 
way  'cauzh  dey're  laughin'  an'  can't  keep 
still,  an'  I  know  I'd  have  laughed  if  I'd  been 
a  star  an'  was  go  in'  to  make  a  lot  of  folks 
awful  happy.  G'won." 

"Then,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  looking  alter 
nately  and  frequently  at  the  two  accounts  of 
the  Advent,  "they  suddenly  saw  an  angel, 
and  the  shepherds  were  afraid." 

"  Should  fink  dey  would  be!"  said  Toddie. 
"  Everybody  gets  afraid  when  dey  see  good 
people  around.  I  'spec  dey  thought  de  angel 
would  say  '  Don't!'  in  about  a  minute." 

"  But  the  angel  told  them  not  to  be  afraid, ' ' 
said  Mrs.  Burton,  "  for  he  had  come  to  bring 
good  news.  There  was  to  be  a  baby  born  at 
Bethlehem,  and  He  would  make  everybody 
happy." 

"Wouldn't  it  be  nice  if  that  angel  would 
come  an'  do  it  all  over  again?"  Budge  asked. 
"  Only  he  ought  to  pick  out  little  boys  instead 
of  sheep  fellows.  I  wouldn't  be  afraid  of  an 
angel." 

"  Neiver  wouldl,"  said  Toddie.    "I'ddzust 


i5o     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

go  round  behind  him  an'  see  how  his  wings 
was  fastened  on." 

'Then  a  great  many  other  angels  came," 
said  Mrs.  Burton,  "  and  they  all  sang  to 
gether.  The  shepherds  didn't  know  what  to 
make  of  it,  but  after  the  singing  was  over 
they  all  started  for  Bethlehem  to  see  that 
wonderful  baby." 

'  Just  like  the  other  day  we  went  to  see  the 
sister-baby ! ' ' 

'  Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Burton;  "but  instead  of 
finding  him  in  a  pleasant  home  and  a  nice 
room,  with  careful  friends  and  nurses  around 
him,  he  was  in  a  manger  out  in  a  stable." 

'  That  was  'cause  he  was  so  smart  that  he 
could  do  just  what  he  wanted  to,  an'  be  just 
where  he  liked,"  said  Budge,  "an'  he  was  a 
little  boy,  an'  little  boys  always  like  stables 
better  than  houses.  I  wish  I  could  live  in  a 
stable  always  an'  for  ever!" 

"So  do  I,"  said  Toddie,  "an'  sleep  in 
mangers,  'cauzh  den  de  horses  would  kick 
anybody  dat  made  me  put  on  clean  clozhezh 
when  I  didn't  want  to.  Dey  gaveded  him 
presentsh,  didn't  they?" 

"Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Burton;  "gold,  frankin 
cense,  and  myrrh." 

"  Why  didn't  they  give  him  rattles  and 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    151 

squealey -balls,  like  folks  did  budder  Phillie 
when  he  was  a  baby,"  asked  Toddie. 

"  Because,  Toddie,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  glad 
of  an  opportunity  to  get  the  sentiment  of  the 
story  into  her  own  hands,  from  which  it  had 
departed  very  early  in  the  course  of  the  lesson 

"because  he  was  no  common  baby,  like 
other  children." 

"Did  he  play  around,  like  uwer  little 
boysh?"  continued  Toddie. 

"I — I — suppose  so,"  said  Mrs.  Burton, 
fearing  lest  in  trying  to  instill  reverence  into 
her  nephews,  she  herself  might  prove  irrever 
ent. 

"  Did  somebody  say  '  Don't'  at  him  every 
time  he  did  anyfmg?"  continued  Toddie. 

"N — n — n — o!  I  imagine  not,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton,  "because  he  was  always  good." 

'That  don't  make  no  diffwelence, "  said 
Toddie.  "  De  better  a  little  boy  triesh  to  be, 
de  more  folks  says  'Don't'  to  him.  So  I 
guesh  nobody  had  any  time  to  say  anyfing 
elsh  at  all  to  Jesus." 

"What  did  he  do  next?"  asked  Budge,  as 
deeply  interested  as  if  he  had  not  heard  the 
same  story  many  times  before. 

"  He  grew  strong  in  body  and  spirit,"  said 
Mrs.  Burton,  "  and  everybody  loved  him;  but 


iS2     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

before  he  had  time  to  do  all  that,  an  angel 
came  and  frightened  his  papa  in  a  dream,  and 
told  him  that  the  king  of  that  country  would 
kill  little  Jesus  if  he  could  find  him.  So 
Joseph  and  Mary,  the  mamma  of  the  baby, 
got  up  in  the  middle  of  the  night  and  started 
off  to  Egypt." 

"  What  did  they  do  when  they  got  there?" 
Budge  asked. 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Mrs.  Burton.  "I 
suppose  the  papa  worked  hard  for  money  to 
buy  good  food  and  comfortable  resting-places 
for  his  wife  and  the  baby ;  and  I  suppose  the 
mamma  walked  about  the  fields,  and  picked 
pretty  flowers  for  her  baby  to  play  with ;  and 
I  suppose  the  baby  cooed  when  his  mamma 
gave  them  to  him,  and  laughed  and  danced 
and  played,  and  then  got  tired,  and  came  and 
hid  his  little  face  in  his  mamma's  lap,  and 
was  taken  into  her  arms  and  held  ever  so 
tight,  and  fell  asleep,  and  that  his  mother 
looked  into  his  face  as  if  she  would  look 
through  it,  while  she  tried  to  find  out  what 
her  baby  would  be  and  do  when  he  grew  up, 
and  whether  he  would  be  taken  away  from 
her,  while  it  seemed  as  if  she  couldn't  live  at 
all  without  having  him  very  closely  pressed 
to  her  breast  and ' ' 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     153 

Mrs.  Burton's  voice  grew  a  little  shaky  and 
soon  failed  her  entirely.  Budge  came  in 
front  of  her,  scrutinized  her  intently  but  with 
great  sympathy  also,  rested  his  elbows  on 
her  knees,  dropped  his  face  into  his  own 
hands,  looked  up  into  her  face,  and  said: 

"  Why,  Aunt  Alice,  she  was  just  like  my 
mamma,  wasn't  she?  An'  I  think  you  are 
just  like  both  of  'em ! ' ' 

Mrs.  Burton  took  Budge  into  her  arms, 
covered  his  face  with  kisses,  and  totally  de 
stroyed  another  chance  of  explaining  the 
difference  between  the  earthly  and  the  heav 
enly  to  her  pupils,  while  Toddie  eyed  the 
couple  with  evident  disfavor,  and  said: 

"  I  fink  'twould  be  nicer  if  you'd  see  if  din 
ner  was  bein'  got  ready,  instead  of  stoppin' 
tellin'  stories  an'  huggin'  Budgie.  My  tum- 
muk's  all  gotted  little  again." 

Mrs.  Burton  came  back  to  the  world  of  to 
day  from  that  of  history,  though  not  without 
a  sigh,  while  the  dog  Terry,  who  had  divined 
the  peaceful  nature  of  the  occasion  so  far  as 
to  feel  justified  in  reclining  beneath  his  mis 
tress's  chair,  now  contracted  himself  into  the 
smallest  possible  space,  slunk  out  of  the  door 
way,  and  took  a  lively  quickstep  in  the  direc 
tion  of  the  shrubbery.  Toddie  had  seen  him, 


154     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

however,  and  told  Budge,  and  both  boys 
were  soon  in  pursuit,  noticing  which,  Terry 
speedily  betook  himself  to  that  distant  re 
tirement  which  the  dog  who  has  experience 
in  small  boys  knows  well  how  to  discover  and 
maintain. 

As  the  morning  wore  on  the  boys  grew 
restless,  fought,  drummed  on  the  piano, 
snarled  when  that  instrument  was  closed, 
meddled  with  everything  that  was  within 
reach,  and  finally  grew  so  troublesome  that 
their  aunt  soon  felt  that  to  lose  was  cheaper 
than  to  save,  so  she  left  the  house  to  the 
children,  and  sought  the  side  of  the  lounge 
upon  which  her  afflicted  husband  reclined. 
The  divining  sense  of  childhood  soon  found 
her  out,  however,  and  Budge  remarked: 

"Aunt  Alice,  if  you're  going  to  church, 
seems  to  me  it's  time  you  was  getting  ready." 

"  I  can't  go  to  church,  Budge,"  sighed  Mrs. 
Burton.  "If  I  do,  you  boys  will  only  turn 
the  whole  house  upside  down,  and  drive  your 
poor  uncle  nearly  crazy." 

"  No ,  we  won ' t , "  said  Budge .  ' '  You  don ' t 
know  what  nice  nurses  we  can  be  to  sick 
people.  Papa  says  nobody  can  even  imagine 
how  well  we  can  take  care  of  anybody  until 
they  see  us  do  it.  If  you  don't  believe  it, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    155 

just  leave  us  with  Uncle  Harry,  an'  stay 
home  from  church  an'  peek  through  the  key 
hole." 

"  Go  on,  dear,"  said  Mr.  Burton.  "  If  you 
want  to  go  to  church,  don't  be  afraid  to  leave 
me.  I  think  you  should  go,  after  your  expe 
rience  of  this  morning.  I  shouldn't  think 


TERRY 


your  mind  could  be  at  peace  until  you  had 
joined  your  voice  with  that  of  the  great  con 
gregation,  and  acknowledged  yourself  to  be 
a  miserable  sinner." 

Mrs.  Burton  winced,  but  nevertheless  re 
tired,  and  soon  appeared  dressed  for  church, 


156     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

kissed  her  husband  and  her  nephews,  gave 
many  last  instructions,  and  departed.  Budge 
followed  her  with  his  eye  until  she  had  stepped 
from  the  piazza,  and  then  remarked,  with  a 
sigh  of  relief: 

"  Now  I  guess  we'll  have  what  papa  calls  a 
good,  old-fashioned  time,  for  we've  got  rid  of 
her." 

"Budge!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Burton,  sternly, 
and  springing  to  his  feet,  "  do  you  know  who 
you  are  talking  about  ?  Don't  you  know  that 
your  Aunt  Alice  has  saved  you  from  many  a 
scolding,  done  you  many  a  favor,  and  been 
your  best  friend  ? ' ' 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  Budge,  with  at  least  a 
dozen  inflections  on  each  word,  "but  ev'ry 
day  friends  an'  Sunday  friends  are  kind  o' 
different;  don't  you  think  so?  She  can't 
make  whistles,  or  catch  bullfrogs,  or  carry 
both  of  us  up  the  mountain  on  her  shoulders, 
or  sing  'Roll,  Jordan." 

"And  do  you  expect  me  to  do  all  these 
things  to-day?" 

"  N — n — no,  unless  you  should  get  well, 
an'  feel  just  like  it;  but  we'd  like  to  be  with 
somebody  who  could  do  'em  if  he  wanted  to. 
We  like  ladies  that's  all  ladies,  but  then  we 
like  men  that's  all  men,  too.  Aunt  Alice  is  a 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    157 

good  deal  like  an  angel,  I  think,  and  you— 
well,  you  ain't.     An'  we  don't  want  to  be 
with  angels  all  the  time  until  we're  angels 
ourselves." 

Mr.  Burton  turned  over  suddenly  and  con 
templated  the  back  of  the  lounge,  while 
Budge  continued: 

"  We  don't  want  you  to  get  to  be  an  angel, 
so  what  I  want  to  know  is,  how  to  make  you 
well.  Don't  you  think  if  I  borrowed  papa's 
horse  and  carriage  an'  took  you  ridin'  you'd 
feel  better?  I  know  he'd  lend  'em  to  me  if  I 
told  him  you  wTere  goin'  to  drive." 

"  And  if  you  said  you  would  go  with  me  to 
take  care  of  me?"  suggested  Mr.  Burton. 

;'Y — e — es,"  said  Budge,  as  hesitatingly 
as  if  such  an  idea  had  never  occurred  to  him. 
"An'  don't  you  think  that  up  to  the  top  of 
Hawksnest  Rock  an'  out  to  Passaic  Falls 
would  be  the  nicest  places  for  a  sick  man  to 
go?  When  you  got  tired  of  ridin'  you  could 
stop  the  carriage  an'  cut  us  a  cane,  or  make 
us  whistles,  or  even  send  us  in  swimming  in  a 
brook  somewhere  if  you  got  tired  of  us." 

"  H'm!"  grunted  Mr.  Burton. 

"  An'  you  might  take  rings  to  eat  wif  you," 
suggested  Toddie,  "an'  when  you  got  real 
tired  and  felt  bad  you  might  stop  an'  have  a 


158 

little  picnic.  I  fink  dat  would  be  dzust  de 
fing  for  a  man  wif  de  toofache.  And  we 
could  help  you,  lotsh." 

"  I'll  see  how  I  feel  after  dinner,"  said  Mr. 
Burton.  "  But  what  are  you  going  to  do  for 
me  between  now  and  then,  to  make  me  feel 
better?" 

"We'll  tell  you  storiezh,"  said  Toddie. 
"Dem's  what  sick  folks  alwayzh  likesh." 

"Very  well,"  said  Mr.  Burton.  "Begin 
right  away." 

"Aw  wight,"  said  Toddie.  "Do  you 
wantsh  a  sad  story  or  a  d'zolly  one?" 

"Anything.  Men  with  the  toothache  can 
stand  nearly  anything.  Don't  draw  on  your 
imagination  too  hard." 

"Don't  never  draw  on  no  madzinasuns," 
said  Toddie;  "  I  only  draws  on  slatesh." 

"Never  mind.     Give  us  the  story." 

"Well,"  said  Toddie,  seating  himself  in  a 
little  rocking-chair,  and  fixing  his  eyes  on  the 
ceiling,  "guesh  I'll  tell  about  Abrahammyn- 
Isaac.  Onesh  de  Lord  told  a  man  named 
Abraham  to  go  up  the  mountain  an'  chop 
his  little  boy's  froat  open  an'  burn  him  up  on 
a  naltar.  So  Abraham  started  to  go  do  it. 
An'  he  made  his  little  boy  Isaac,  dat  he  was 
going  to  chop  and  burn  up,  carry  de  kindlin' 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    159 

wood  he  was  goin'  to  set  him  a-fire  wif.  An' 
I  want  to  know  if  you  fink  dat  wazh  very 
nysh  of  him  ? ' ' 

"Well,  no." 

'Tell  you  what,"  said  Budge,  "you  don't 
ever  catch  me  carryin'  sticks  up  the  moun 
tain,  even  if  my  papa  wants  me  to." 

'When  they  got  up  dere,"  said  Toddie, 
"  Abraham  made  a  naltar  an'  put  little  Ikey 
on  it,  an'  took  a  knife  an'  was  goin'  to  chop 
his  froat  open,  when  a  andzel  came  out  of 
hebben,  an'  said:  'Stop  a-doin'  dat!'  So 
Abraham  stopped,  an'  Ikey  skooted.  An' 
Abraham  saw  a  sheep  caught  in  de  bushes, 
an'  he  caught  him  an'  killed  him.  He  wasn' 
goin'  to  climb  way  up  a  mountain  to  kill 
somebody  an'  not  have  his  knife  bluggy  a  bit. 
An'  he  burned  de  sheep  up.  An'  den  he 
went  home  again." 

"I'll  bet  you  Isaac's  mamma  never  knew 
what  his  papa  wanted  to  do  with  him,"  said 
Budge,  "or  she'd  never  let  her  little  boy  go 
away  in  the  mornin'.  Do  you  want  to  bet  ? ' ' 

"  N— no,  not  on  Sunday,"  said  Mr.  Burton. 
"  Now,  suppose  you  little  boys  go  out  of  doors 
and  play  for  a  while,  while  uncle  tries  to  get 
a  nap." 

The  boys  accepted  the  suggestion  and  dis- 


160     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

appeared.  Half  an  hour  later,  as  Mrs.  Bur 
ton  was  walking  home  from  church  under 
escort  of  old  General  Porcupine,  and  enduring 
with  saintly  fortitude  the  general's  compli 
ments  upon  her  management  of  the  children, 
there  came  screams  of  fear  and  anguish  from 
the  general's  own  grounds,  which  the  couple 
were  passing. 

"Who  can  that  be?"  exclaimed  the  gen 
eral,  his  short  hairs  bristling  like  the  quills 
of  his  titular  godfather.  "  We  have  no 
children." 

"  I  think  I  know  the  voices,"  gasped  Mrs. 
Burton,  turning  pale. 

"Bless  my  soul!"  exclaimed  the  general, 
with  an  accent  which  showed  that  he  was 
wishing  the  reverse  of  blessings  upon  souls 
less  needy  than  his  own.  "You  don't 
mean— 

"Oh,  I  do!"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  wringing 
her  hands.  "Please  hurry!" 

The  general  puffed  and  snorted  up  his 
gravel  walk  and  toward  the  shrubbery,  be 
hind  which  was  a  fishpond  from  which  direc 
tion  the  sound  came.  Mrs.  Burton  followed 
in  time  to  see  her  nephew  Budge  help  his 
brother  out  of  the  pond  while  the  general 
tugged  at  a  large  crawfish  which  had  fastened 


THE  GENERAL  FELL  INTO  THE  POND 


its  claw  upon  Toddle's  finger.  The  fish  was 
game,  but,  with  a  mighty  pull  from  the  gen 
eral,  and  a  fiendish  shriek  from  Toddie,  the 
fish's  claw  and  body  parted  company,  and 
the  general,  still  holding  the  latter  tightly, 
staggered  backward  and  himself  fell  into  the 
pond. 

"  Ow— ow — ow!"  howled  Toddie,  clasping 
the  skirt  of  his  aunt 's  mauve  silk  in  a  ruinous 
embrace,  while  the  general  floundered  and 
snorted  like  a  whale  in  dying  agonies  and 
Budge  laughed  as  merrily  as  if  the  whole 
scene  had  been  provided  especially  for  his 
entertainment.  Mrs.  Burton  hurried  her 
nephews  away,  forgetting,  in  her  mortifica 
tion,  to  thank  the  general  for  his  service,  and 
placing  a  hand  over  Toddle's  mouth. 

"  It  hurts ! ' '  mumbled  Toddie. 

"  What  did  you  touch  the  fish  at  all  for?" 
asked  Mrs.  Burton. 

"  It  was  a  little  baby-lobster,"  sobbed  Tod 
die,  "  an'  I  loves  little  babies — all  kinds  of 
'em — an'  I  wanted  to  pet  him.  An'  den  I 
wanted  to  grop  him." 

"Why  didn't  you  do  it?"  demanded  the 
lady. 

'  'Cauzh  he  wouldn't  grop,"  said  Toddie. 
"He  isn't  all  gropped  yet," 


i62     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

True  enough,  the  claw  of  the  fish  still  hung 
at  Toddie's  finger,  and  Mrs.  Burton  spoiled  a 
pair  of  four-button  kids  in  detaching  it, 
while  Budge  continued  to  laugh.  At  length, 
however,  mirth  gave  place  to  brotherly  love, 
and  Budge  tenderly  remarked: 

'Toddie  dear,  don't  you  love  Bother 
Budgie?" 

"Yesh,"  sobbed  Toddie. 

'Then  you  ought  to  be  happy,"  said 
Budge,  "  for  you've  made  him  awful  happy. 
If  the  fish  hadn't  caught  you,  the  general 
couldn't  have  pulled  him  off,  an'  then  he 
wouldn't  have  tumbled  into  the  pond,  an'  oh, 
my — didn't  he  splash  bully!" 

"  Then  you's  got  to  be  bited  wif  a  fiss  your 
self,"  said  Toddie,  "an'  make  him  tumble  in 
again,  for  me  to  laugh  'bout." 

"You're  two  naughty  boys,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton.  "  Is  this  the  way  you  take  care  of 
your  sick  uncle  ? ' ' 

"We  did  take  care  of  him!"  exclaimed 
Toddie.  '  Told  him  a  lovaly  Bible  story,  an' 
you  didn't,  an'  he  wouldn't  have  had  not  no 
Sunday  at  all  if  I  hadn't  done  it.  An'  we's 
goin'  to  take  him  widin'  dis  afternoon." 

Mrs.  Burton  hurried  home,  but  it  seemed 
to  her  that  she  had  never  met  so  many  in- 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    163 

quiring  acquaintances  during  so  short  a  walk. 
Arrived  at  last,  she  ordered  her  nephews  to 
their  room,  and  flung  herself  in  tears  beside 
her  husband,  murmuring: 

"Harry!" 

And  Mr.  Burton,  having  viewed  the  ruined 
dress  with  the  eye  of  experience,  uttered  the 
single  word: 

"Boys!" 

"  What  am  I  to  do  with  them?"  asked  the 
unhappy  woman. 

Mr.  Burton  was  an  affectionate  husband. 
He  adored  womankind,  and  sincerely  be 
moaned  its  special  grievances ;  but  he  did  not 
resist  the  temptation  to  recall  his  wife's  an 
nouncement  of  five  days  before,  so  he  whis 
pered  : 

"Train  them." 

"I- 

Mrs.  Burton's  humiliation  by  her  own  lips 
was  postponed  by  a  heavy  footfall,  which,  by 
turning  her  face,  she  discovered  was  that  of 
her  brother-in-law,  Tom  Lawrence,  who  re 
marked  : 

'Tender  confidences,  eh?  There's  noth 
ing  like  them,  if  you  want  to  be  happy.  But 
Helen's  pretty  well  to-day,  and  dying  to  have 
her  boys  with  her,  and  I  'm  even  worse  with  a 


1 64     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

similar  longing.  You  can't  spare  them,  I 
suppose  ? ' ' 

The  peculiar  way  in  which  Tom  Lawrence's 
eyes  danced  as  he  awaited  a  reply  would,  at 
any  other  time,  have  aroused  all  the  defiance 
in  Alice  Burton's  nature;  but  now,  looking 
at  the  front  of  her  beautiful  dress,  she  only 
said: 

"  Why — I  suppose— we  might  spare  them 
for  an  hour  or  two." 

'You  poor,  dear  Spartan,"  said  Tom, 
with  genuine  sympathy,  "  You  shall  be  at 
peace  until  their  bedtime." 

And  Mrs.  Burton  found  occasion  to  rear 
range  the  bandage  on  her  husband's  face  so 
as  to  whisper  in  his  ear: 

"Thank  heaven!" 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    165 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  boys  returned  to  the  Burtons  fast 
asleep,  Budge  in  his  father's  arms,  and 
Toddie's  head  pillowed  on  the  shoulder  of 
faithful  Mike.  No  sound  was  heard  from 
either  of  them  until  the  next  morning,  when 
finding  that  they  slept  later  than  usual,  their 
aunt  went  to  their  chamber  to  arouse  them. 
She  found  Budge  sitting  up  in  bed  rubbing 
his  eyes  with  one  hand,  while  with  the  other 
he  shook  his  brother,  and  elicited  some  ugly 
grunts  of  remonstrance. 

'  Tod ! ' '  exclaimed  Budge ;  ' '  Tod !  Wake 
up !  We  ain't  where  we  was ! ' ' 

"  Don't  care  if  we  ain't,"  drawled  Toddie. 
"  I'zhe  in — a— nicer  playsh.  I'zhe  in — big 
candy-shop." 

"No,  you  ain't,"  said  Budge,  trying  to 
pick  his  brother's  eyes  open.  'You're  at 
Aunt  Alice's,  and  when  you  went  to  sleep  you 
was  at  mamma's  house." 

"  Pw — w — w — !"  cried  Toddie,  arising 
slowly;  "  you's  a  hateful  bad  boy,  Budgie.  I 
was  a-dreamin'  I  was  in  a  candy-store,  an' 
gotted  all  my  pockets  full  an'  bof  hands  full, 


166     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

too,  an'  now  you's  woketed  me  up  an'  my 
hands  is  all  empty,  an'  I  hazn't  got  any 
pocket-clozhezh  on  me  at  all." 

"  Well,  next  time  you  have  a  dream  I  won't 
wake  you  at  all,  even  if  you  have  nightmares 
an'  dream  awful  things.  Say,  Aunt  Alice, 
how  do  folks  dream,  I  wonder?  What  makes 
everythin'  go  away  an'  be  somethin'  else?" 

"It  is  the  result  of  indistinct  impressions 
upon  a  semi-dormant  brain,  "said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"Oh!" 

Mrs.  Burton  thought  she  detected  a  note  of 
sarcasm  in  her  nephew's  exclamation,  but  he 
was  so  young  and  he  seemed  so  meek  of 
countenance  that  she  abandoned  the  idea. 
Besides,  her  younger  nephew  had  been  saying 
"Aunt  Alish — Aunt  Alish — Aunt  Alish— 
Aunt  Alish—  ' '  as  rapidly  as  he  could  with  an 
increasing  volume  of  voice.  Mrs.  Burton 
found  time  in  which  to  say : 

"What?" 

"  Did  you  say  pwessin'  on  bwains  made  us 
dweam  rings,  Aunt  Alish?" 

"  Ye— es,"  Mrs.  Burton  replied.  "  That  is 
the- 

"  Well,  then, ' '  interrupted  Toddie.  "  Jzust 
you  sit  down  on  my  head  an'  make  dat  can 
dy-shop  come  back  again,  won't  you?" 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    167 


"Say,  Aunt  Alice,"  said  Budge,  "do  you 
know  that  lots  of  times  I  don't  know  any 
more  than  I  knew  before." 

"  I  don't  understand  you,  Budge." 

"  Why,  when  folks  tell  me  things — I  mean, 
I  ask  them  how  things  are,  an'  they  tell  me, 
an'  then  I  don't 
know  any  better 
than  I  did  be 
fore.  Is  that  the  way 
it  is  with  grown 
folks?" 

Mrs.  Burton  re 
flected  for  a  moment 
and  recalled  many 
experiences  very 
much  like  that 
of  Budge  —  ex 
periences,  too,  in 
which  she  had 
forced  the  same 
impassive  face  that  Budge  wore,  as  she  pre 
tended  to  comprehend  that  which  had  been 
imperfectly  explained.  She  remembered,  too, 
how  depressing  had  been  the  lack  of  under 
standing,  and  how  strong  was  the  sense  of 
injury  at  being  required  to  act  as  if  her 
comprehension  had  been  perfectly  reached. 


DREAMIN    I  WAS  IN  A  CANDY-STORE 


i68     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

Whether  the  topics  had  been  the  simple 
affairs  of  childhood,  or  the  social,  aesthetic 
and  religious  instructions  of  adult  age, 
Mrs.  Burton,  like  every  one  else,  had  been 
told  more  than  she  understood,  and  misun 
derstood  many  things  she  had  been  told, 
and  blamed  her  friends  and  the  world  for 
her  blunders  and  for  lack  of  appreciation  of 
the  intentions  to  which  proper  and  foster 
ing  training  had  never  been  applied.  Was  it 
possible  that  she  was  repeating  with  her 
nephews  the  blunders  which  others  had  com 
mitted  while  attempting  to  shape  her  own 
mind? 

The  thought  threw  Mrs.  Burton  into  the 
profoundest  depths  of  reverie,  from  which 
she  was  aroused  by  Budge,  who  asked: 

"  Aunt  Alice,  do  you  see  the  Lord  ? ' ' 

"No,  Budge!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton, 
with  a  start.  "  Why  do  you  ask?" 

"Why,"  said  Budge,  "you  was  lookin'  so 
hard  through  the  window,  an'  right  toward 
where  you  couldn't  see  anythin'  but  sky;  an' 
your  eyes  had  such  an  ever-so-far  look  in 
them  that  I  thought  you  must  be  lookin' 
straight  at  the  Lord." 

"If  you  sees  Him,"  said  Toddie,  "I  wiss 
you'd  ask  him  to  send  that  dream  back  again 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    169 

to-night;  to  push  on  my  bwains  an'  make  it 
come  back,  and  then  let  me  stay  asleep  until 
I  eat  up  all  de  candy  I  gotted  into  my  pockets 
an'  hands." 

The  appearance  of  the  chambermaid,  who 
came  to  dress  the  boys  for  breakfast,  put  an 
end  to  the  conversation,  but  Mrs.  Burton 
determined  that  it  should  be  renewed  at  the 
earliest  opportunity,  or,  rather,  that  her  dis 
coveries  of  her  own  shortcomings  as  a  teacher 
of  children  should  lead  to  an  early  and  prac 
tical  reformation. 

The  fit  of  mental  abstraction  into  which 
this  resolution  threw  her  was  the  cause  of  a 
silence  which  puzzled  her  husband  considera 
bly,  for  he  could  plainly  see  by  her  face  that 
no  affair  merely  matured  was  at  the  bottom 
of  her  reticence,  and  that  what  in  men  would 
be  called  temper  was  equally  absent  from  her 
heart.  In  fact,  the  result  upon  Mrs.  Bur 
ton's  face  and  actions  was  so  beneficial  that 
the  lady's  husband  determined  to  plead 
toothache  as  an  excuse  to  remain  at  home  for 
a  day  and  look  at  her. 

The  mere  suggestion,  however,  elicited 
from  Mrs.  Burton  the  mention  of  so  many 
absolute  necessities  which  could  be  procured 
only  in  the  city  and  by  her  husband,  that  he 


i;o     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

departed  by  a  train  even  earlier  than  the  • 
one  upon  which  he  usually  travelled,  and 
with  sensations  very  like  those  of  a  man 
who  has  been  forcibly  ejected  from  a  resi 
dence. 

Then  Mrs.  Burton  led  her  nephews  into 
the  sitting-room,  seated  herself,  placed  an 
arm  tightly  about  each  little  boy,  and  said: 

"Children,  is  there  anything  that  you 
would  very  much  like  to  know  ? ' ' 

;<  Yesh,"  answered  Toddie,  promptly.  "I'd 
like  to  know  what  we's  going  to  have  for 
dinner  to-day  ? ' ' 

"And  I,"  said  Budge,  "would  like  to 
know  when  we're  all  goin'  for  a  ride  again." 

"I  don't  mean  silly  things  of  that  sort," 
said  Mrs.  Burton,  "but— 

"  Ain't  silly  rings ! ' '  said  Toddie.  "  Deysh 
what  makesh  ush  happy. " 

Mrs.  Burton  made  a  mental  note  of  the 
justice  of  the  rebuke,  and  of  its  connection 
with  the  subject  of  which  her  heart  was  al 
ready  full;  but  she  was  still  Alice  Mayton 
Burton,  a  lady  whose  perceptions  could  not 
easily  prevent  her  from  following  the  paths 
which  she  had  already  laid  out  for  herself,  so 
she  replied : 

"  I  know  they  are;  but  I  want  to  teach  you 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    171 

whatever  you  want  to  learn  about  matters 
of  more  importance." 

"  Do  you  mean  that  you  want  to  play 
school?"  asked  Budge.  "Papa  don't  think 
school  is  healthy  for  children  in  warm 
weather,  an'  neither  do  we." 

"No,  I  don't  want  to  play  school,  but  I 
want  to  explain  to  you  some  of  the  things 
which  you  say  you  don't  understand,  though 
people  tell  you  all  about  them.  It  makes 
Aunt  Alice  very  unhappy  to  think  that  her 
dear  little  nephews  are  troubled  about  un 
derstanding  things  when  they  want  so  much 
to  do  so.  Aunt  Alice  was  once  a  little  bit  of 
a  girl,  and  had  just  the  same  sort  of  trouble, 
and  she  remembers  how  uncomfortable  it 
made  her." 

"Oh!"  said  Budge,  changing  his  position 
until  he  could  look  into  his  aunt's  eyes. 
"  Did  you  ever  have  to  wonder  how  big 
moons  got  to  be  little  again,  an'  then  have 
big  folks  tell  you  they  chopped  up  the  old 
moons  an'  made  stars  of  them,  when  you 
knew  the  story  must  be  an  awful  whopper  ? ' ' 

"Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"  An'  didn't  you  ever  wunner  what  dinner 
was  goin'  to  be  made  of,  an'  den  have  big 
folks  just  say  '  never  mind '  ? "  asked  Toddie. 


1 72     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

'  Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  giving  Toddie  a 
light  squeeze.  "I've  been  through  that, 
too." 

"  Why ! ' '  said  Budge,  "  you  was  awful  little 
once,  wasn't  you?  Well,  did  you  ever  have 
to  wonder  where  God  stood  when  he  made 
the  world  out  of  nothing  ? ' ' 

"An'  did  you  ever  have  to  fink  how  the 
sweet  outsides  got  made  onto  date-stones  an' 
peach-pits?"  asked  Toddie. 

"Oh,  yes." 

"Then  tell  us  all  about  'em." 

"You  asked  me  about  dreams  this  morn 
ing,  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  addressing 
Budge,  "and- 

"I  know  I  did,"  said  Budge;  "but  I'd 
rather  know  about  dates  an'  peaches  now.  I 
can't  dream  any  more  till  I  go  to  bed;  but  I 
can  buy  dates  inside  of  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
if  you'll  give  me  pennies.  Oh,  say — I'll  tell 
you  what — you  send  me  to  buy  some,  and 
then  you  can  explain  about  'em  easier.  It's 
so  much  nicer  to  see  how  things  are  than  to 
have  to  think  about  'em." 

"  I  can't  spare  you  now,  dear,  to  go  after 
dates.  I  may  not  have  time  to  talk  to  you 
when  you  get  back." 

"Oh,  we'd  manage  not  to  bother  you.     I 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    173 


think  we  could  find  out  all  about  'em  our 
selves,  if  wre  had  enough  of  'em  to  do  it  with." 

"Very  well,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  compro 
mising  reluctantly. 
"I'll  tell  you  about 
something  else  at 
present;  then  I  will 
give  you  some 
money  to  purchase 
dates,  and  you  may 
study  them  for 
yourselves." 

"All  right.  Now 
tell  us  what  makes 
your  dog  Terry 
always  run  away 
whenever  we  wrant 
him?" 

"  B  ecause  you 
tease  him  so  much, 
whenever  you 
catch  him  that 
you  have  made 
him  hate  you," 
said  Mrs.  Bur 
ton,  delighted  at  the  double  opportunity  to 
speak  distinctly  and  impart  a  lesson  in 
humanity. 


WONDER  HOW  BIG  MOONS  GOT 
TO  BE  LITTLE  AGAIN" 


174     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  Now,  you's  gettin'  ready  to  say  '  Don't, ' ' 
Toddie  complained.     "  Can't  little  boysh  lyne 
noffin'  dat  hazn't  got  any  mean  old  '  Don't' 
in  it?" 

"I  hope  so,  poor  little  fellow,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton,  repenting  at  once  of  her  success. 
"What  would  you  like  to  know?" 

Toddie  opened  his  mouth  and  eyes,  hung 
his  head  to  one  side,  meditated  for  two  or 
three  minutes,  and  said: 

"  I — I — I — I — I  wantsh  to  know  whatsh 
de  reason  dat  when  a  little  boy  hazh  been 
eatin'  lotsh  of  buttananoes  he  can't  eat  any 
more,  when  he's  been  fmdin'  out  all  the 
whole  time  how  awful  good  dey  is  ? " 

"  Because  his  little  stomach  is  full,  and 
when  one's  stomach  is  full  it  knows  enough 
to  stop  wanting  anything." 

"Then  tummuks  is  gooses.  I  wiss  I  was 
my  tummuk  dzust  once;  I'd  show  it  how 
never  to  get  tired  of  buttananoes." 

"What  I  want  to  know,"  said  Budge,  "is 
how  we  have  dreams,  'cause  I  don't  know 
any  more  about  it  than  I  did  before,  after 
what  you  told  me  this  morning." 

"It's  a  hard  thing  to  explain,  dear,"  said 
Mrs.  Burton,  as  she  endeavored  to  frame  a 
simple  explanation.  "  We  think  with  our 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    175 


brain,  and  when  we  sleep  our  brain  sleeps 
too,  though  sometimes  it  isn't  as  sleepy  as 
the  rest  of  our  body;  and  when  it  is  a  little 
wakeful  it  thinks  the  least  bit,  but  it  can't 
think  straight,  so  each  thought  gets  mixed 
up  with  part  of  some  other  thought." 

"That's  the  reason  I  dreamed  last  night 
that  a  cow  was  sittin'  in  your  rockin '-chair 
readin'  an 
atlas,"  said 
Budge.  "But 
what  made 
me  think 
about  cows 
an'  rockin'- 
chairs  an 'at 
lases  at  all  ? " 

"That's  one  of 
the  things  which 
we  can't  explain 
about  dreams," 

said  Mrs.  Burton.  "  We  seem  to  remember 
something  that  we  have  seen  at  some  other 
time,  and  our  memories  jumble  against  each 
other,  when  two  or  three  come  at  a  time." 

"Then,"  said  Toddie,  "some  night  when 
I'ze  asleep  I'm  goin'  to  fink  about  butta- 
nanoes  an '  red-herrin  's  an '  ice-cream  an '  sour- 


'A   COW  READIN     AN  ATLAS 


176     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

grass  an'  hard-boiled  eggs  an'  candy  an'  fried 
hominy,  an'  won't  I  hazh  a  lovaly  little  tea- 
party  in  bed,  if  all  my  finks  d jumbles  togev- 
ver?  An'  I  won't  djeam  about  any  uvver 
little  boy  wif  me  at  all." 

"When  I  dream  about  dear  little  dead 
brother  Phillie,"  said  Budge,  "don't  I  do 
anythin'  but  just  remember  him?  Don't  he 
come  down  from  heaven  and  see  me  in  my 
bed?" 

"I  imagine  not,  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"  Then  what  makes  him  look  so  white  and 
sunny,  an'  smile  so  sweet,  an'  flap  his  dear 
little  white  wings  close  to  my  face  so  I  can 
touch  'em?" 

"  I  suppose  it  is  because — because  you 
have  thought  of  him  looking  that  way,"  said 
Mrs.  Burton,  drawing  Budge  closer  to  her  side 
to  hide  the  wistfulness  of  his  face  from  her 
eyes.  "  You've  seen  pictures  of  angels  all  in 
white,  with  graceful  wings,  and  you've 
thought  of  little  brother  Phil  looking  that 
way." 

" Oh,  dear!"  exclaimed  Budge,  burying  his 
face  in  his  aunt's  robe  and  bursting  into  tears. 
"  I  wish  I  hadn't  tried  to  find  out  about 
dreamin'!  I  don't  ever  want  to  learn  about 
anything  else.  If  dear  little  angel  Phillie  is 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    177 

only  a  piece  of  a  think  in  my  brain  when  I  'm 
asleep,  then  there  isn't  nothin'  that's  any- 
thin'.  I  always  thought  it  was  funny  that  he 
began  to  go  away  as  soon  as  I  began  to  wake 
up.': 

"Cows  don't  go  'way  when  I  wakes  up 
from  dreamin'  about  'em,"  said  Toddie.  "  I 
'members  'em  all  day,  an'  sees  'em  whenever 
I  don't  want  to." 

Mrs.  Burton  could  not  repress  a  smile, 
while  Budge  raised  his  head,  and  said: 

"Well,  I  suppose  it's  no  good  to  be  un 
happy.  We'd  better  have  fun  than  think 
about  things  that's  awful  sad.  Can't  you 
think  of  some  new  kind  of  a  play  for  us  ? " 

"I'm  afraid  I  can't,  at  this  minute,"  said 
Mrs.  Burton. 

"Suppose  you  play  store,"  said  Budge, 
"an'  keep  lots  of  nice  things,  like  cakes  an' 
candies,  an'  let  us  buy  'em  of  you  for  pins.  Oh, 
yes !  an'  you  give  us  the  pins  to  buy  'em  with. ' ' 

"  An'  do  it  'fore  it  getsh  dinner-time,"  said 
Toddie,  "  so  de  fings  you  sell  us  can  get  out  of 
the  way  in  time,  so  we  can  get  empty  to  get 
fullded  up  at  dinner." 

"  I  can't  do  that,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "be 
cause  it  would  give  you  an  excuse  to  eat  be 
tween  meals." 


i78     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Then  tell  us  stories,"  Budge  suggested; 
"no,  make  a  menagerie  for  us.  Oh,  no ! — 1 11 
tell  you  what,  make  believe  it  was  our  house, 
an'  you  was  comin'  to  visit  us,  an'  well  bring 
you  up  cake  an'  coffee  to  rest  yourself  with." 

"I'm  afraid  I  smell  some  little  mice! "  said 
Mrs.  Burton. 

"In  the  mouse-twap?"  inquired  Toddie. 
"Oh!  get  'em  for  ush  to  play  wif!" 

'Tell  you  what,"  said  Budge.  :<  You  can 
tell  us  that  funny  story  about  the  man  that 
had  dogs  for  doctors." 

"Dogs  for  doctors?"  echoed  Mrs.  Burton. 

:'Yes,"  said  Budge;  "don't  you  know? 
He's  in  the  Bible  book." 

"He  may  be,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  rapidly 
passing  in  review  such  biblical  dogs  as  she 
could  remember,  "but  I  don't  know  where." 

"  Why,  don't  you  know?"  continued  Budge. 
"  He  was  that  man  that  was  so  poor  that  he 
had  to  eat  crumbs,  an'  papa  don't  think  he 
had  any  syrup  with  'em,  either,  like  we  do 
when  the  cook  gives  us  the  crumbs  out  of  the 
bread -box." 

"Is  it  possible  you  mean  Lazarus?"  ex 
claimed  Mrs.  Burton. 

;'Yesh,"  said  Toddie,  "dat  was  him. 
'Twasn't  de  Lazharus  that  began  to  live  again 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    179 

after  he  was  buried,  though.  He  didn't  have 
no  dogs." 

'The  poor  man  you  mean,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton,  "was  very  sick  and  very  poor,  so 
that  he  had  to  be  fed  with  the  scraps 
that  a  rich  man  named  Dives  left  at  his 
own  table.  But  the  Lord  saw  him  and  knew 
what  troubles  he  was  having,  and  deter 
mined  that  the  poor  man  should  be  happy 
after  he  died,  to  make  up  for  the  trouble 
he  had  when  he  was  alive.  So  when  poor 
Lazarus  died  the  Lord  took  him  right  into 
heaven." 

"  Nobody  has  to  eat  table-scraps  there,  do 
they?"  said  Budge.  "But  say,  Aunt  Alice, 
what  do  they  do  in  heaven  with  things  that's 
left  at  the  table?  Isn't  it  wicked  to  throw 
them  away  up  there?" 

"  Should  fink  they'd  cut  a  hole  in  the  floor 
of  hebben  an'  grop  de  scraps  down  froo,  for 
poor  people, "  said  Toddie.  "  When  I  gets  to 
be  an  andzel,  an'  gets  done  my  dinners,  I'm 
goin'  to  get  up  on  the  wall  an'  froe  the  rest 
over  down  into  the  world.  Only  I  must  be 
careful  not  to  grop  off  myself  an'  tumble  into 
the  wylde  again." 

"What  I  want  to  know  is,"  said  Budge, 
"  how  do  they  get  things  to  eat  for  the  angels  ? 


i8o     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

Do  they  have  grocery  stores,  an'  butcher 
shops,  an'  milk  wagons  up  there?" 

"Gracious,  no!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton, 
her  fingers  instinctively  moving  toward  her 
ears.  "  The  Lord  provides  food  in  some  way 
that  we  don't  understand.  But  this  poor 
Lazarus,  after  he  became  an  angel,  looked 
out  of  heaven,  and  saw,  away  off  in  the  bad 
place,  the  rich  man  whose  leavings  he  used  to 
eat,  for  the  rich  man  had  died  too.  And  the 
rich  man  begged  Abraham— 

"I  fought  his  name  was  Lazharus?"  said 
Toddie. 

'The  poor  man  was  named  Lazarus/'  said 
Mrs.  Burton;  "but  when  he  reached  heaven 
he  found  good  old  Abraham  there,  and  Abra 
ham  took  care  of  him.  And  the  rich  man 
begged  Abraham  to  send  Lazarus  just  to  dip 
his  finger  in  water  and  rub  it  on  the  rich  man's 
lips,  for  he  was  so  thirsty." 

"  Why  didn't  he  get  a  drink  for  himself?" 
asked  Budge.  "Can't  rich  people  wait  on 
themselves  even  when  they  die?" 

"  There  is  no  water  in  the  bad  place,"  said 
Mrs.  Burton.  'That  was  why  he  was  so 
thirsty." 

"Goodnesh!"  said  Toddie.  "How  does 
little  boysh  make  mud-pies  there?" 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    181 


"  I  hope  no  little  boys  ever  go  there,"  said 
Mrs .  Burton .  " But  Abraham  said :  'Not  so ,  my 
friend.  You  had  your  good  things  while  you 
were  alive; 
now 

must  get 
along  with 
out  any 
thing. 


poor  Lazarus  must 
be  made  happy,  for 
he  had  very  bad 
times  when  he  was 
alive!'" 

"  Is  that  the  way 
it  is  ? "  Budge  asked. 
'  'Then  I  guess  Abra 
ham  will  have  to  do 
lots  for  me  when  I 
die,    for    I    have    a 
good  many  bad 
times  nowadays. 
Then  what  did  the  bothered  old  rich  man 
do  about  it?" 
"  He   told   Abraham   that   he   had   some 


HOW  DO  THEY  GET   THINGS  TO 
EAT  FOR    THE  ANGELS?" 


182     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

brothers  that  were  alive  yet,  and  he  wished 
that  an  angel  might  be  sent  to  tell  them  to  be 
good,  so  as  never  to  have  to  come  to  that 
dreadful  place.  But  Abraham  told  him  it 
wouldn't  be  of  any  use  to  send  an  angel.  They 
had  good  books  and  preachers  that  would  tell 
them  what  to  do." 

"  An'  did  he  have  to  go  on  bein'  thirsty  for 
ever?"  asked  Budge. 

"I  suppose  so,"  said  Mrs. .Burton,  with  a 
shudder,  and  realizing  why  it  was  that  the 
doctrine  of  eternal  torment  was  not  more  in 
dustriously  preached  from  the  pulpit. 

"G'won!"  remarked  Toddie. 

"That  is  all  there  is  of  it,"  said  Mrs.  Bur 
ton. 

"Why  you  didn't  tell  us  a  ring  about  the 
doctor-dogs,"  complained  Toddie. 

"  Oh,  those  are  not  nice  to  tell  about,"  said 
Mrs.  Burton. 

"  I  fink  deysh  dzust  de  nicest  fing  about  de 
story.  Whenever  I  getsh  a  sore  finger,  I 
goes  an'  sits  down  by  the  back  door  an'  calls 
Terry.  But  I  don't  fink  Terry's  a  very  good 
doctor,  'cauzh  he  don't  come  when  I  wants 
him.  One  of  dese  days  when  I  getsh  lotsh  of 
soresh,  like  Jimmy  McNally  when  he  had  the 
smallpox,  an'  Terry  will  want  to  see  me  awful, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    183 

I  won't  let  him  see  me  a  bit.  Tell  us  'nother 
story." 

The  sound  of  harp  and  fiddle  came  to  Mrs. 
Burton's  rescue,  and  the  boys  hurried  to  the 
front  of  the  house  to  behold  two  very  small 
Italians,  who  were  doing  their  utmost  to  teach 
adults  the  value  of  peace  and  quietness. 

Budge  and  Toddie  listened  to  the  whole 
repertoire  of  the  couple,  encored  every  selec 
tion,  bestowed  in  payment  the  pennies  their 
aunt  gave  them  for  the  purpose,  and  pro 
posed  to  follow  the  musicians  on  their  route 
through  the  town,  but  their  aunt  stopped 
them. 

"  What  do  those  little  fellows  do  with  all 
the  pennies  they  get?"  asked  Budge.  "Do 
they  buy  candy  with  them?" 

"What  lotsh  of  candy  they  must  have!" 
exclaimed  Toddie. 

"  I  suppose  they  take  their  money  home  to 
their  papas  and  mammas,"  said  Mrs.  Burton, 
"  for  they  are  very  poor  people.  Perhaps  the 
parents  of  those  two  little  boys  are  sick  at 
this  very  moment,  and  are  looking  anxiously 
for  the  return  of  their  little  boys  who  are  so 
far  away."  (Mem.  The  first  report  of  the 
Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to 
Children  had  not  been  published  at  that  time.) 


i84     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  An'  do  the  little  boys  make  all  that  music 
dzust  'cauzh  dey  love  somebody?"  asked 
Toddie. 

"Yes,  dear." 

"  But  folks  always  gets  paid  by  the  Lord 
for  doin'  things  for  other  folks,  don't  they, 
Aunt  Alice?"  asked  Budge. 

;'Yes,  dear  old  fellow,"  said  Mrs.  Bur 
ton. 

"One  fing  nysh  about  dern  little  boysh," 
said  Toddie,  "  ish  dat,  when  their  papas  an' 
mammas  is  sick,  dere  isn't  anybody  to  tell 
'em  not  to  get  deir  shoes  dusty.  Dzust  see 
how  dey  walksh  along  in  the  middle  of  the 
street,  kickin'  up  de  dust,  an'  nobody  to  say 
'  Don't ! '  to  'em,  an'  nobody  skrong  enough  to 
spynk  'em  for  it  when  dey  gets  home.  I  wiss 
I  was  a  musicker." 

"Well,  they're  gone  now,"  sighed  Budge, 
"  'an  we  want  something  else  to  make  us 
happy.  Say,  Aunt  Alice,  why  don't  you 
have  a  horse  an'  carriage  like  mamma,  so  that 
you  could  take  us  out  ridin'?" 

"  Uncle  Harry  isn't  rich  enough  to  keep 
good  horses  and  carriages,"  said  Mrs.  Burton, 
"and  he  doesn't  like  poor  ones." 

"Why,  how  much  does  good  horses  cost? 
I  think  Mr.  Blanner's  horses  are  pretty  good, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    185 

but  papa  says  they'd  be  dear  at  ten  cents 
apiece." 

"  I  suppose  a  good  horse  costs  three  or 
four  hundred  dollars,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"  My— y— y ! ' '  exclaimed  Budge.     "  That's 
more  money  than  it  costs  our  Sunday-school 
to  pay  for  a  missionary!    Which  is  goodest— 
horses  or  missionaries?" 

"Missionaries,  of  course,"  said  Mrs.  Bur 
ton,  leaving  the  piazza,  with  a  dim  impression 
that  she  had,  during  the  morning,  answered 
a  great  many  questions  with  very  slight  bene 
fit  to  any  one. 

The  boys  cared  for  themselves  until  lunch 
eon,  and  then  returned  with  rather  less  appe 
tite  than  was  peculiar  to  them.  The  new 
siege  of  questioning  which  their  aunt  had 
anticipated  was  postponed;  each  boy's  mind 
seemed  to  be  in  the  reflective,  rather  than  the 
receptive,  attitude. 

After  luncheon  they  hastily  disappeared, 
without  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  their 
aunt  to  prevent  them,  for  Mrs.  Burton  had 
arranged  to  make,  that  afternoon,  one  of  the 
most  important  of  calls.  Mrs.  Congressman 
Weathervane  had  been  visiting  a  friend  at 
Hillcrest,  and  Mrs.  Weathervane 's  mother 
and  Mrs.  Burton's  grandmother  had  been 


i86     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

schoolday  acquaintances,  and  Mrs.  May  ton 
would  have  come  from  the  city  to  pay  her 
respects  to  the  descendant  of  the  old  friend 
of  the  family,  but  some  of  the  infirmities  of 
age  prevented.  And  Mrs.  May  ton  instructed 
her  daughter  to  call  upon  Mrs.  Weather- 
vane  as  a  representative  of  the  family, 
and  Mrs.  Burton  would  have  lost  her  right 
hand  or  her  new  spring  hat  rather  than 
disregard  such  a  command.  So  she  had 
hired  a  carriage  and  devised  an  irreproach 
able  toilet,  and  recalled  and  tabulated  every 
thing  she  had  ever  heard  about  the  family  of 
the  lady  who  had  become  Mrs.  Weather- 
vane. 

The  carriage  arrived,  and  no  brace  of  boys 
dashed  from  unexpected  lurking-places  to 
claim  a  portion  of  its  seats.  The  carriage 
rolled  off  in  safety,  and  Mrs.  Burton  fell  into 
an  impromptu  service  of  praise  to  the  kind 
power  which  often  blesses  us  when  we  least 
expect  to  be  blessed.  The  carriage  reached 
the  house  and  the  terrible  Mrs.  Weathervane 
turned  out  to  be  one  of  the  most  charming 
of  young  women,  before  whose  sunny  tem 
perament  Mrs.  Burton's  assumed  dignity 
melted  like  the  snow  of  May,  and  her  store 
of  venerable  family  anecdotes  disappeared 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    187 

at  once  from  the  memory  which  had  guarded 
them  jealously. 

But  joy  is  never  unalloyed  in  this  wicked 
world.  While  the  couple  were  chatting 
merrily,  and  Mrs.  Weathervane  was  insisting 
that  Mrs.  Burton  should  visit  her  at  Wash- 


THE    SQUEAK    OF    THE    VIOLIN    AND    THE    WAIL    OF     A     BADLY 
PLAYED  WIND   INSTRUMENT 

ington  during  the  session,  and  Mrs.  Burton 
was  trying  to  persuade  Mrs.  Weathervane 
to  accept  the  Burton  hospitality  for  at  least 
a  day  or  two,  there  arose  under  the  window 
the  squeak  of  violin  and  the  wail  of  some 
badly  played  wind  instrument. 


i88     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

'  Those  wretched  little  Italians ! ' '  ex 
claimed  Mrs.  Weathervane.  "  For  which 
of  our  sins,  I  wonder,  are  we  condemned  to 
listen  to  them?" 

"If  they  come  as  punishment  for  sins," 
said  Mrs.  Burton,  "  how  wicked  I  must  be, 
for  this  is  my  second  experience  with  them 
to-day.  They  were  at  my  house  for  half  an 
hour  this  morning." 

"And  you  are  sweet  of  disposition  this 
afternoon:"  said  Mrs.  Weathervane.  "Oh! 
I  must  spend  a  day  or  two  with  you,  and 
take  some  lessons  in  saintly  patience." 

Mrs.  Burton  inclined  her  head  in  acknowl 
edgment,  and  Mrs.  Weathervane  approached 
some  other  topic,  when  the  violin  under  the 
window  gave  vent  to  a  series  of  terrible 
groans  of  anguish,  while  the  wind-instrument, 
apparently  a  flute,  shrieked  discordantly  in 
three  notes  an  octave  apart  from  each  other. 

"  An  attempt  to  execute  something  upon 
one  string,  I  suppose,"  said  Mrs.  Weather 
vane,  "and  the  execution  is  successful  only 
as  criminal  executions  are.  What  should  be 
done  to  the  little  wretches?  And  yet  one 
can't  help  giving  them  money;  did  you  see 
the  story  of  their  terrible  life  in  the  news 
papers  this  week?  It  seems  they  are  hired 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    189 

in  Italy  by  dreadful  men,  who  bring  them 
here,  torture  them  into  learning  their  wretch 
ed  tunes  and  then  send  them  out  to  play  and 
beg.  They  are  terribly  whipped  if  they  do 
not  bring  home  a  certain  sum  of  money  every 
day." 

;'The  poor  little  things!"  exclaimed  Mrs. 
Burton.  "I'm  glad  that  I  gave  them  a  good 
many  pennies  this  morning.  I  must  have 
had  an  intuition  of  their  fate,  for  I'm  certain 
I  had  no  musical  enjoyment  to  be  paid  for. 
They  can  hardly  be  as  old  as  some  children 
in  nurseries,  either." 

"No,  indeed,"  said  Mrs.  Weathervane, 
going  to  the  window.  'The  elder  of  these 
two  boys  cannot  be  more  than  six,  while  the 
younger  may  be  four';  and  the  older  looks  so 
sad,  so  introspective!  The  younger — poor 
little  fellow — has  only  expectancy  in  his 
countenance.  He  is  looking  up  to  all  the 
windows  for  the  pennies  that  he  expects  to  be 
thrown  to  him.  He  has  probably  not  had  so 
hard  an  experience  as  his  companion,  for  his 
instrument  is  only  a  common  whistle.  Think 
of  the  frauds  which  their  masters  practise 
upon  the  tender-hearted !  The  idea  of  sending 
out  a  child  with  a  common  whistle  on  the 
pretense  of  making  music." 


i go     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"It's  perfectly  dreadful!"  said  Mrs.  Bur 
ton. 

'Then  to  think  what  the  parents  of  some 
of  these  children  may  have  been,"  continued 
Mrs.  Weathervane.  'The  older  of  this  cou 
ple  has  really  many  noble  lines  in  his  face, 
did  not  the  long-drawn  agony  of  separation 
and  abuse  inscribe  deeper  ones  there.  The 
smaller  one,  vilely  dirty  as  he  is,  has  a  very 
picturesque  head  and  figure.  He  is  smiling 
now.  Oh!  what  wouldn't  I  give  if  some 
artist  could  catch  his  expression  for  me!" 

"Really,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton,  ap 
proaching  the'  window;  "  I  hadn't  noticed  so 
many  charms  about  them,  but  I  shall  be  glad 
to  have  them  pointed  out  to  me.  Mercy!" 

"What  can  be  the  matter?"  murmured 
Mrs.  Weathervane,  as  her  visitor  fell  back 
from  the  window  and  dropped  into  a  chair. 

'They're  my  nephews!"  gasped  Mrs.  Bur 
ton.  "  Oh,  what  shall  I  do  with  those  dread 
ful  children?" 

"  Stolen  from  home  ? ' '  inquired  Mrs.  Weath 
ervane,  discerning  a  romance  within  reaching 
distance. 

"  No— oh,  no ! "  said  Mrs.  Burton.  "  I  left 
them  at  home  an  hour  or  two  ago.  I  can't 
imagine  why  they  should  have  taken  this 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    191 

freak,  unless  because  boys  will  be  dreadful, 
no  matter  what  is  done  for  them.  I  sup 
pose,"  she  continued,  hurrying  to  the  win 
dow,  "that  Budge  has  his  uncle's  violin, 
which  I  think  is  fully  as  dear  to  its  owner  as 
his  wife.  Yes,  he  has  it!  Boys!"  ex 
claimed  Mrs.  Burton,  appearing  at  the  piazza- 
door,  "go  directly  home." 

At  the  sound  of  their  aunt's  voice  the  boys 
looked  up  with  glad  smiles  of  recognition, 
while  Budge  exclaimed,  "Oh,  Aunt  Alice! 
we've  played  at  lots  of  houses,  an'  we've  got 
nearly  a  dollar.  We  told  everybody  we  was 
play  in'  to  help  Uncle  Harry  buy  a  horse  an' 
carriage ! ' ' 

"Go  home!"  repeated  Mrs.  Burton.  "Go 
by  the  back  road,  too.  I  am  going  myself 
right  away.  Be  sure  that  I  find  you  there 
when  I  return." 

Slowly  and  sadly  the  amateurs  submitted 
to  the  fateful  decree  and  moved  toward 
home,  while  Mrs  Weathervane  bestowed  a 
sympathetic  kiss  upon  her  troubled  visitor. 
A  great  many  people  came  to  doors  and  win 
dows  to  see  the  couple  pass  by,  but  what 
was  public  interest  to  a  couple  whose  motive 
had  been  rudely  destroyed?  So  dejected 
was  their  mien  as  they  approached  the  Bur- 


i92     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

ton  mansion,  and  so  listless  was  their  step, 
that  the  dog  Terry,  who  was  on  guard  at  the 
front  door,  gave  only  an  inquiring  wag  of  his 
tail,  and  did  not  change  his  position  as  the 
boys  passed  over  the  door-mat  upon  which  he 
lay.  A  moment  or  two  later  a  carriage  dashed 
up  to  the  door,  and  Mrs.  Burton  descended, 
hurried  into  the  house,  and  exclaimed: 

"  How  dared  you  to  do  such  a  vulgar, 
disgraceful  thing?" 

"  Well,"  said  Budge,  "  that's  another  of  the 
things  we  don't  understand  much  about, 
even  after  we're  told.  We  thought  we  could 
be  just  as  good  to  you  an'  Uncle  Harry  as 
dirty  little  Italian  boys  is  to  their  papas  an' 
mammas,  an'  when  we  tried  it,  you  made  us 
go  straight  home." 

"  Dzust  the  same  ring  as  saying  '  Don't '  at 
us,"  Toddie  complained. 

"An'  after  we  got  a  whole  lot  of  money, 
too!"  said  Budge.  "Papa  says  some  big 
men  don't  get  more  than  a  dollar  in  a  day, 
an'  we  got  most  a  dollar  in  a  little  bit  of  a 
while.  It's  partly  because  we  was  honest, 
though,  I  guess,  an'  told  the  troof  every 
where — we  told  everybody  that  we  wanted 
the  money  to  help  Uncle  Harry  to  buy  a 
horse  an'  carriage." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    193 


Uncle  Harry  himself,  moved  by  his  aching 
tooth,  had  returned  from  New  York  in  time 
to  hear,  unperceived,  the  last  portion  of 
Budge's  explanation,  after  which  he  heard 
the  remainder  of  the  story  from  his  wife. 

H  i  s  expression 
as  he  listened, 
his  glance  at  his 
nephews,  and 
his  frantic  ex- 


UNCLE  HARRY  S  FRANTIC    EXAMINATION  OF  HIS   BELOVED 
VIOLIN 

animation  of  his  beloved  violin,  gave  the 
boys  to  understand  how  utter  is  sometimes 
the  failure  of  good  intentions  to  make  happy 
those  persons  for  whose  benefit  they  are  ex 
erted.  The  somber  reflections  of  the  musi- 


i94     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

cians  were  unchanged  by  anything  which  oc 
curred  during  the  remainder  of  the  afternoon, 
and  when  they  retired,  it  was  with  a  full  but 
sorrowful  heart  that  Budge  prayed'.  "  Dear 
Lord,  I've  been  scolded  again  for  try  in'  to  do 
somethin'  real  nice  for  other  people.  I 
guess  it  makes  me  know  something  about 
how  the  good  prophets  felt.  Please  don't 
let  me  have  to  be  killed  for  doin'  good. 
Amen." 

And  Toddie  prayed:  "Dee  Lord,  dere's 
some  more  'Don't'  been  said  to  me,  an'  I 
fink  Aunt  Alice  ought  to  be  'shamed  of  her 
self  .  Won ' t  y ou  please  make  her  so  ?  Amen . ' ' 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    195 


CHAPTER  VII 

THAT, ' '  murmured  Mrs.  Burton  on  Tues 
day  morning,  as  she  prepared  to  descend 
to  the  breakfast  table,  "promises  a  pleasant 
day."  Then,  in  a  louder  tone,  she  said  to 
her  husband:  "Harry,  just  listen  to  those 
dear  children  singing!  Aren't  their  voices 
sweet  ? ' ' 

' '  Sing  before  breakfast,  cry  before  dark," 
quoted  Mr.  Burton,  quoting  a  popular  saying. 
"For    shame!"    exclaimed    Mrs.    Burton. 
"  And  when  they're  singing  sweet  little  child- 
hymns  too !    There !  they  're  start  ing  another . ' ' 
Mrs.   Burton  took  the  graceful  listening 
attitude  peculiar  to  ladies,  her  husband  stood 
in  the  military  position  of  "attention,"  and 
both  heard  the  following  morceau : 

"  I  want — to  be — an  an — gel 

An'  with — the  an — gels  stand; 
A  crown — upon — my  fore — head 
A  hop — per  in — my  hand." 

"  Hopper— h'm ! ' '  said  Mr.  Burton.  "  They 
refer  to  the  hind -leg  of  a  grasshopper,  my 
dear.  The  angelic  life  would  be  indeed 


196     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

dreary  to  those  youngsters  without  some  such 
original  plaything." 

;'You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself!" 
said  the  lady.  "  I  hope  you  won't  suggest 
any  such  notion  to  them.  I  don't  believe 
they  would  have  had  so  many  peculiar  views 
about  the  next  world  if  some  one  hadn't  ex 
erted  an  improper  influence — you  and  your 
brother-in-law  Tom  Lawrence,  their  father, 
for  instance." 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Burton,  ''if  they  are  so 
susceptible  to  the  influence  of  others,  I  sup 
pose  you  have  them  about  reformed  in  most 
respects?  You  have  had  entire  charge  of 
them  for  seven  days." 

"Six — only  six,"  corrected  Mrs.  Burton, 
hastily.  "  I  wish- 

"That  there  really  was  one  day  less  for 
them  to  remain?"  said  Mr.  Burton,  looking 
his  wife  full  in  the  face. 

Mrs.  Burton  dropped  her  eyes  quickly,  try 
ing  first  to  turn  in  search  of  something  she 
did  not  want,  but  her  husband  knew  his 
wife's  nature  too  much  to  be  misled  by  this 
ruse.  Putting  as  much  tenderness  in  his 
voice  as  he  knew  how  to  do,  he  said : 

"  Little  girl,  tell  the  truth.  Haven't  you 
learned  more  than  they  ? ' ' 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    197 

Mrs.  Burton  still  kept  her  eyes  out  of  range 
of  those  of  her  husband,  but  replied  with 
composure : 

"  I  have  learned  a  great  deal,  as  one  must 
when  brought  in  contact  with  a  new  subject, 
but  the  acquired  knowledge  of  an  adult  is  the 
source  of  new  power,  and  of  much  and  more 
knowledge  to  be  imparted." 

Mr.  Burton  contemplated  his  wife  with 
curiosity  which  soon  made  place  for  undis 
guised  admiration,  but  when  he  turned  his 
face  again  to  the  mirror  he  could  see  in  its 
expression  nothing  but  pity.  Meanwhile  the 
cessation  of  the  children's  songs,  the  confused 
patter  of  little  feet  on  the  stair,  and  an  ago 
nized  yelp  from  the  dog  Terry,  indicated  that 
the  boys  had  left  their  chamber.  Then  the 
Burtons  heard  their  owrn  door-knob  turned, 
an  indignant  kick  which  followed  the  dis 
covery  that  the  door  was  bolted,  and  then  a 
shout  of: 

"Say!" 

"What's  wanted?"  asked  Mr.  Burton. 

"  I  want  to  come  in,"  answered  Budge. 

"Me,  too,"  piped  Toddie. 

"What  for?" 

A  moment  of  silence  ensued,  and  then 
Budge  answered: 


i98     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  Why,  because  we  do.  I  should  think 
anybody  would  understand  that  without 
asking." 

"Well,  we  bolted  the  door  because  we 
didn't  want  any  one  to  come  in.  I  should 
think  anybody  could  understand  that  with 
out  asking." 

"  Oh!  Well,  I'll  tell  you  what  we  want  to 
come  in  for;  we  want  to  tell  you  something 
perfectly  lovely." 

"  Do  you  wish  to  listen  to  an  original  ro 
mance,  my  dear?"  asked  Mr.  Burton. 

"Certainly,"  replied  the  lady. 

"And  break  your  resolution  to  teach  them 
that  our  chamber  is  not  a  general  ante-break 
fast  gather  ing -place  ? ' ' 

"  Oh,  they  won't  infer  anything  of  the  kind 
if  we  admit  them  just  once,"  said  Mrs.  Bur 
ton. 

"  H'm — we  won't  count  this  time," quoted 
Mr.  Burton  from  "  Rip  Van  Winkle,"  with  a 
suggestive  smile,  which  wras  instantly  ban 
ished  by  a  frown  from  his  wife.  Mr.  Burton 
dutifully  drew  the  bolt  and  both  boys  tum 
bled  into  the  room. 

"  We  were  both  leaning  against  the  door," 
explained  Budge;  "that's  why  we  dropped 
over  each  other.  We  knew  you'd  let  us  in." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    199 

Mr.  Burton  gave  his  wife  another  peculiar 
look  which  the  lady  affected  not  to  notice  as 
she  asked: 

"  What  is  the  lovely  thing  you  were  going 
to  tell  us?" 

"Why " 

"I— I— I— I— I "  interrupted  Toddie. 


BOTH   BOYS  TUMBLED   INTO  THE  ROOM 

"Tod,  be  still!"  commanded  Budge.  "I 
began  it  first." 

"But  I  finked  it  fyst,"  expostulated  Tod- 
die. 

"  I'll  tell  you  what,  then,  Tod— I'll  tell  'em 
about  it  an'  vou  worrv  'em  to  do  it.  That's 


200     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

fair,  isn't  it  ? "  and  then,  without  awaiting  the 
result  of  Toddie's  deliberations  Budge  con 
tinued  : 

"  What  we  want  is  a  picnic.  Papa '11  lend 
you  the  carriage,  and  we'll  get  in  it  and  go  up 
to  the  Falls,  and  have  a  lovely  day  of  it. 
That's  just  the  nicest  place  I  ever  saw.  You 
can  swing  us  in  the  big  swing  there,  an'  take 
us  in  swimmin',  an'  row  us  in  a  boat,  an'  buy 
us  lemonade  at  the  hotel,  an'  we  can  throw 
stones  in  the  water,  an'  paddle,  an'  catch  fish, 
an'  run  races.  All  these  other  things — not 
the  first  ones  I  told  you  about — we  can  do  for 
ourselves,  an'  you  an'  Aunt  Alice  can  lie  on 
the  grass  under  the  trees,  an'  smoke  cigars, 
an'  be  happy,  'cause  you've  made  us  happy. 
That's  the  wray  papa  does.  An'  you  must 
take  lots  of  lunch  along,  'cause  little  boys  gets 
pretty  empty-feeling  when  they  go  to  such 
places.  Oh,  yes — an'  you  can  throwT  Terry  in 
the  water  an'  make  him  swim  after  sticks— 
I'll  bet  he  can't  get  away  there  without  our 
catching  him." 

"But  de  lunch  has  got  to  be  lots,"  said 
Toddie,  "  else  dere  won't  be  any  fun — not  one 
bittie.  An'  you'll  take  us,  won't  you?  We'ze 
been  dreadful  good  all  mornin'.  I'ze  singed 
Sunday  songs  until  my  froat's  all  sandy." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   201 

"All  what?"  asked  Mrs.  Burton. 

"Sandy,"  replied  Toddie.  "Don't  you 
know  how  funny  it  feels  to  rub  sand  between 
your  hands  when  you  hazhn't  got  djuvs  on? 
If  you  don't,  I'll  go  bring  you  in  some." 

:'Your  aunt  will  take  your  word  for  it," 
said  Mr.  Burton,  as  his  wife  did  not  respond. 

"  An'  we'll  be  awful  tired  after  the  picnic's 
done,"  said  Budge,  "an'  you  can  hold  us  in 
your  arms  in  the  carriage  all  the  way  back. 
That's  the  way  papa  an'  mamma  does." 

"Thank  you,"  said  Mr.  Burton.  "That 
will  be  an  inducement.  And  it  explains  why 
your  papa  can  make  a  new  coat  look  old 
quicker  than  any  other  man  of  my  acquaint 
ance." 

"  And  why  your  mother  always  has  a  skirt 
to  clean  or  mend,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"It's  all  told  now,  Tod,"  said  Budge. 
"Why  don't  you  worry  'em?" 

Toddie  clasped  his  aunt's  skirts  affection 
ately,  and  said,  in  most  appealing  tones: 

'  You'se  a-goin'  to,  izhn't  you?" 

"  Papa  says  it  was  always  easier  for  you  to 

say  '  yes '  than  '  no, " '  remarked  Budge ;  "an' 

>  > 

"A  fine  reputation  your  brother-in-law 
gives  you,"  remarked  Mrs.  Burton. 


202     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  An'  I  once  heard  a  lady  say  she  thought 
you  said '  yes '  pretty  easy, "  continued  Budge, 
addressing  his  aunt.  "  I  thought  she  meant 
something  that  you  said  to  Uncle  Harry,  by 
the  way  she  talked."  Mrs.  Burton  flushed 
angrily,  but  Budge  continued:  "An'  you 
ought  to  be  as  good  to  us  as  you  are  to  him, 
'cause  he's  a  big  man,  an'  don't  have  to  be 
helped  every  time  he  wants  any  fun.  Be 
sides,  you've  got  him  all  the  time,  but  you 
can  only  have  us  four  days  longer — three 
days  besides  to-day." 

"Another  paraphrase  of  Scripture — appli 
cation  perfect,"  remarked  Mr.  Burton  to  his 
wife.  "Shall  we  go?" 

"Can  you?"  asked  the  lady,  suddenly 
grown  radiant. 

"I  suppose — oh,  I  know  I  can,"  replied 
Mr.  Burton,  assuming  that  the  anticipation 
of  a  day  in  his  society  was  the  sole  cause  of 
his  wife's  joy. 

Mrs.  Burton  knew  his  thoughts  but  failed 
to  correct  them,  guilty  though  she  felt  at  her 
neglect.  That  she  would  be  practically  re 
lieved  of  responsibility  during  the  day  was 
the  cause  of  her  happiness.  The  children  had 
always  preferred  the  companionship  of  their 
uncle  to  that  of  his  wife;  she  had  at  times 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    203 

been  secretly  mortified  and  offended  at  this 
preference,  but  in  the  week  just  ending  she 
had  entirely  lost  this  feeling. 

The  announcement  that  their  host  and 
hostess  thought  favorably  of  the  proposition 
was  received  by  the  boys  with  lively  manifes 
tations  of  delight,  and  for  two  hours  no  other 
two  persons  in  the  state  were  more  busy  than 
Budge  and  Toddie.  Even  their  appetites 
gave  way  under  the  excitement  and  their 
stay  at  the  breakfast  table  was  of  short 
duration. 

Budge  visited  his  father  and  arranged  for 
the  use  of  the  carriage  while  Toddie  super 
intended  the  packing  of  the  eatables  until  the 
cook  banished  him  from  the  kitchen,  and  pro 
tected  herself  from  subsequent  invasion  by 
locking  the  door.  Then  both  boys  suggested 
enough  extra  luggage  to  fill  a  wagon  and  vol 
unteered  instructions  at  a  rate  which  was  not 
retarded  by  the  neglect  with  which  their 
commands  were  received. 

When  the  last  package  was  taken  into  the 
carriage  the  dog  Terry  was  helped  to  a  seat 
and  the  party  started.  They  had  been  en 
route  about  five  minutes,  when  Budge  re 
marked  : 

"Uncle  Harry,  I  want  a  drink." 


204     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Uncle  Harry,"  said  Toddie,  "I'm  'most 
starved  to  deff.  I  didn't  have  hardly  any 
brekspup." 

"  Why  not  ? "  asked  Mrs.  Burton.  "  Wasn't 
there  plenty  on  the  table?" 

"I  doe  know,"  Toddie  replied,  looking 
inquiringly  into  his  aunt's  face  as  if  to  refresh 
his  memory. 

"  Weren't  you  hungry  at  breakfast -time  ?" 
continued  Mrs.  Burton. 

"  I — I — I — I — why,  yesh — Imeanmytum- 
muk  wazh  hungry,  but  my  toofs  wasn't — 
dat's  de  way  it  wazh.  An'  I  guesh  what  I'd 
better  have  now  is  sardines  an'  pie." 

"Ethereal  creature!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Bur 
ton,  giving  Toddie  a  cracker. 

"I  didn't  remember  that  I  was  hungry," 
said  Budge,  "but  Tod's  talking  about  it  re 
minds  me.  An'  I'd  like  that  drink,  too." 

Budge  also  received  some  crackers  and  the 
carriage  was  stopped  near  a  well.  The  de 
scent  of  Mr.  Burton  from  the  carriage  com 
pelled  the  dog  Terry  to  change  his  base, 
which  operation  was  so  impeded  by  skillful 
efforts  on  the  part  of  the  boys  that  Terry 
suddenly  leaped  to  the  ground  and  started 
for  home,  followed  by  a  remonstrance  from 
Toddie,  while  Budge  remarked: 


TODDIE    UKANK   ABOUT  TWO   SWALLOWS   OF    WATER 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    205 

"  He  won't  ever  go  to  heaven,  Terry  won't. 
He  don't  like  to  make  people  happy." 

Away  went  the  carriage  again  and  it  had 
reached  the  extreme  outskirts  of  the  town 
when  Toddie  said: 

"I'm  awful  fursty."- 

"  Why  didn't  you  drink  when  Budge  did  ? ' ' 
demanded  Mr.  Burton. 

'  'Cauzh  I  didn't  want  to,"  replied  Toddie. 
"  I  izhn't  like  old  choo-choos  dat  getsh  filled 
up  dzust   'cause  dey  comes  to  a  watering 
playzh.     I  only  likesh  to  dwink  when  I'zhe 
fursty;  an'  I'zhe  fursty  now." 

Another  well  was  approached;  Toddie 
drank  about  two  swallows  of  water,  and  re 
plied  to  his  aunt's  declaration  that  he  couldn't 
have  been  thirsty  at  all  by  the  explanation : 

"  I  doezn't  hold  very  much.  I  izhn't  like 
de  horsesh,  dat  can  dwink  whole  pails  full  of 
water,  an'  den  hazh  room  for  gwash.  But 
I  guesh  I'zhe  got  room  for  some  cake." 

' Then  I'll  give  you  another  cracker,"  said 
Mr.  Burton. 

"  Don't  want  one, "'  said  Toddie.  "  Cwacker 
couldn't  push  itself  down  as  easy  as  cake." 

"  I  do  believe, "  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "  that  the 
child's  animal  nature  has  taken  complete 
possession  of  him.  Eating  and  mischief  has 


2o6     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

been  the  whole  of  his  life  during  the  week,  yet 
he  used  to  be  so  sweetly  fanciful  and  sensitive." 

"Children's  wits  are  like  the  wind,  my 
dear,"  said  Mr.  Burton.  'Thou  canst  not 
tell  whence  it  cometh  nor  whither  it  goeth ' ; 
you  set  your  sails  for  it,  and  behold  it  isn't 
there,  but  when  you're  not  expecting  it, 
down  conies  the  gale." 

"A  gale!"  echoed  Budge.  "That's  what 
we're  goin'  to  have  to-day." 

"Izn't  neiver,"  said  Toddie.  "Goin'  to 
hazh  a  picnic." 

"  Well,  gales  and  picnics  is  the  same  thing," 
said  Budge. 

"  No,  dey  izhn't.  Galesh  is  kind  o'  rough, 
but  picnics  is  nysh.  Galesh  is  like  rough 
little  boysh,  like  you,  but  picnics  is  nysh, 
like  dear  little  sister-babies." 

"Oh,  dear,"  sighed  Budge,  "we  haven't 
seen  that  baby  for  two  days.  Let's  go  right 
back  an'  look  at  her." 

"Budge,  Budge!"  remonstrated  Mrs.  Bur 
ton;  "  try  to  be  content  with  what  you  have, 
and  don't  always  be  longing  for  something 
else .  You  can  go  to  see  her  when  we  return . ' ' 

"I  can  see  her  wivout  goin'  back,"  said 
Toddie.  "  I  can  see  anybody  I  wantsh  to, 
dzust  whenever  I  pleash." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    207 

"Don't  be  silly,  Toddie,"  remonstrated 
Mrs.  Burton,  in  spite  of  a  warning  nudge 
from  her  husband 

"How  do  you  see  them,  Toddie?"  asked 
Mr.  Burton. 

"  Why,  I  duzst  finks  a  fink  about  'em,  an' 
den  dey  comezh  wight  inshide  of  my  eyezh, 
an '  I  sees  'em .  I  see  lotsh  of  peoples  dat-a-way . 
I  sees  Abrahammynlsaac,  an'  Bliaff,  an'  little 
Dave,  an'  de  Hebrew  children,  an'  Georgie 
Washitton  hatchet  in'  down  his  papa's  tree, 
whenever  I  finks  about  'em.  Oh,  deregoezh 
a  wabbit !  Let sh  stop  an '  catch  him . ' ' 

"Oh,  no,  let  him  go,"  said  Mr.  Burton. 
"  Perhaps  he's  going  home  to  dinner,  and  his 
family  are  all  waiting  at  the  table  for  him." 

"Gwacious!"  said  Toddie,  opening  his 
eyes  very  wide  and  keeping  silence  for  at 
least  two  minutes.  Then  he  said,  "  I  saw  a 
wabbit  family  eat  in'  dinner  once.  Dey  had 
a  little  bittie  of  a  table,  an'  little  bitsh  of 
chairzh,  an'  de  papa  wabbit  ashkted  a  blessin' 
an'- 

" Toddie,  Toddie,  don't  tell  fibs!"  said 
Mrs.  Burton,  as  she  again  felt  herself  touched 
by  her  husband's  elbow. 

"Izn't  tellin'  fibs!  An'  a  little  boy  wab 
bit  said,  'Papa,  I  wantsh  a  dwink.'  So  his 


208     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

papa  took  a  little  tumbler,  dzust  about  as  big 
as  a  fimble,  an'  held  a  big  leaf  up  sideways 
so  de  dew  would  run  off  into  de  tumbler,  an' 
he  gived  it  to  the  little  boy  wabbit.  An' 
when  dey  got  done  dinner,  de  mamma  wab 
bit  gave  each  of  de  little  boy  wabbits  a  straw 
berry  to  suck.  An'  none  of  'em  had  to  be 
told  to  put  on  de  napkins,  'cause  dey  only 
had  one  dwess,  and  dat  was  a  color  dat  didn't 
show  dyte,  like  mamma  says  I  ought  to 
have." 

"  Were  all  the  little  rabbits  boys — no  girls 
at  all?"  asked  Mr.  Burton. 

;'  Yesh,  dere  was  a  little  sister  baby,  but 
she  wazh  too  little  to  come  to  de  table,  so  de 
mamma  wabbit  held  her  in  her  lap  and  played 
'  Little  Pig  Went  to  Market '  on  her  little  bits 
of  toes.  Den  de  sister-baby  got  tired,  an'  de 
mamma  wabbit  wocked  it  in  a  wockin'-tsair, 
an'  sung  to  it  'bout — • 

"Papa  gone  a-huntin', 
To  get  a  little  wabbit-skin 
To  wap  a  baby  buntin — baby  wabbit — in." 

Den  de  baby -wabbit  got  tired  of  its  mamma, 
an'  got  down  an'  cwept  around  on  itsh  handsh 
an'  kneezh,  an'  didn't  dyty  its  djess  at  all  or 
make  its  kneezh  sore  a  bit,  'cauzh  dere  wazh 
only  nice  leaves  an'  pitty  fynes  for  it  to  cweep 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    209 

on,  instead  of  ugly  old  carpets.  Say,  do  you 
know  I  was  a  wabbit  once  ? ' ' 

"Why,  no,"  said  Mr.  Burton.  "Do  tell 
us  about  it." 

"  Harry!"  remonstrated  Mrs.  Burton. 

"He  believes  it,  my  dear,"  explained  her 
husband.  "He  has  his  'sweetly  fanciful' 
mood  on  now,  that  you  were  moaning  for  a 
few  moments  ago.  Go  on,  Toddie." 

"  Why,  I  was  a  wabbit,  and  lived  all  by 
myself  in  a  hole  froo  de  bottom  of  a  tree.  An' 
sometimes  uvver  wabbits  came  to  see  me,  an' 
we  all  sat  down  on  our  foots  an'  bowed  our 
ears  to  each  uvver.  Dogsh  came  to  see  me 
sometimes,  but  I  dzust  let  dem  wing  de  bell 
an'  didn't  ask  'em  to  come  in.  An'  den  a 
dzentleman  came  an'  asked  me  to  help  him 
make  little  boysh  laugh  in  a  circus.  So  I 
runned  around  de  ring,  and  picked  up  men 
an'  rings  wif  my  tchunk— 

"Rabbits  don't  have  trunks,  Toddie." 

"  I  know  it,  but  I  tyned  into  a  ephalant. 
An'  I  got  lotsh  of  hay  an'  rings  wif  my  tchunk, 
an'  folks  gave  me  lotsh  of  cakes  an'  candies  to 
see  me  eat  'em  wif  my  tchunk,  an'  I  was  so 
big  I  could  hold  'em  all,  an'  I  didn't  have  any 
mamma  ephalant  to  say,  '  Too  muts  cake  an' 
candy  will  make  you  sick,  Toddie." 


210     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Anything  more?"  asked  Mr.  Burton. 
"We  can  stand  almost  anything." 

"  Well,  I  gotted  to  be  a  lion  den,  and  had 
to  roar  so  much  dat  my  froat  gotted  all 
sandy,  so  I  got  turned  into  a  little  boy  again, 
an'  I  was  awful  hungry.  I  guesh  'twas  djust 
now." 

"Can  you  resist  that  hint,  my  dear?"  Mr. 
Burton  asked.  His  wife,  with  a  sigh,  opened 
a  basket  and  gave  a  piece  of  cake  to  Toddie, 
who  remarked: 

"  Dish  izh  to  pay  me  for  tellin'  de  troof 
about  all  dem  fings,  izhn't  it  ? " 

About  this  time  the  party  reached  Little 
Falls,  and  Budge  said: 

"  I  suppose  lunch '11  be  the  first  thing?" 

"No,"  said  Mrs.  Burton;  "we  won't  lunch 
until  our  usual  hour." 

"  But  you  can  have  all  the  drinks  you 
want,"  said  Mr.  Burton.  "There's  a  whole 
river  full  of  water." 

"Oh,  I  don't  feel  as  if  I'd  ever  be  thirsty 
again,"  said  Budge.  "  But  I  wish  Terry  was 
here  to  swim  in  after  sticks.  You  do  it, 
won't  you?  You  play  dog  an'  I'll  play 
Uncle  Harry  an'  throw  things  to  you." 

By  this  time  Toddie  had  sought  the  water's 
edge,  and,  taking  a  stooping  position,  looked 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    211 

for  fish.  The  shelving  stone  upon  which  he 
stood  was  somewhat  moist  and  Toddie  was 
so  intent  on  his  search  that  he  stooped  for 
ward  considerably.  Suddenly  there  was 
heard  a  splash  and  a  howl,  and  Toddie  was 
seen  in  the  river,  in  water  knee-deep.  To 
rescue  him  was  the  work  of  only  a  moment, 


SUDDENLY  HEARD  A   SPLASH    AND  A    HOWL 

but  to  stop  his  tears  was  no  such  easy  matter. 

"What  is  to  be  done?"  exclaimed  Mrs. 
Burton. 

"Take  off  his  shoes  and  stockings  and  let 
him  run  barefooted, "  said  Mr.  Burton.  "  The 
day  is  warm,  so  he  can't  catch  cold." 


212     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Oh!"  exclaimed  Toddie,  "  Izh  I  goin'  to 
be  barefoot  all  day?  I  wishes  dish  river 
wazh  wight  by  our  housh ;  I  'd  tumble  in  every 
day.  Budgie,  Budgie,  if  you  wantsh  fun 
dzust  go  tumble  splash  into  de  river." 

But  Budge  had  strolled  away,  and  was 
tugging  at  some  moss  in  a  crevice  of  rock. 
Here  his  aunt  found  him,  and  he  explained, 
toiling  as  he  talked: 

"  I  thought — this — would  make  such — a — 
lovely  cushion  for — for  you  to  sit  on." 

The  last  word  and  the  final  tug  were  con 
current  and  the  moss  gave  way ;  so  did  Budge, 
and  with  a  terrific  scream,  for  a  little  snake 
had  made  his  home  under  the  moss,  and  was 
expressing  indignation,  in  his  own  way,  at 
being  disturbed. 

"  I  won't  never  do  nothin'  for  nobody 
again,"  screamed  Budge.  "I'll  see  that 
snake  every  time  I  shut  my  eyes,  now." 

"You  poor,  dear  little  fellow,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton,  caressing  him  tenderly.  "  I  wish 
Aunt  Alice  could  do  something  to  make  you 
forget  it." 

"  Well,  you  can't,  unless — unless,  maybe,  a 
piece  of  pie  would  do  it.  It  wouldn't  do  any 
harm  to  try,  I  s'pose?" 

Mrs.  Burton  hurried  to  unpack  a  pie,  as 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    213 

her  husband  remarked  that  Budge  was  born 
to  be  a  diplomatist.  Looking  suspiciously 
about,  for  fear  that  Toddie  might  espy 
Budge's  prescription,  and  devise  some  ail 
ment  which  it  would  exactly  suit,  she  dis 
covered  that  Toddie  was  out  of  sight. 

"Oh,  he's  gone,  Harry!  Hurry  and  find 
him.  Perhaps  he's  gone  above  the  Falls.  I 
do  wish  we  had  gone  further  down  the  river ! ' ' 

Mr.  Burton  took  a  lively  double-quick  up 
and  along  the  bank  of  the  river,  but  could  see 
nothing  of  his  nephew. 

After  two  or  three  minutes,  however,  above 
the  roar  of  the  falling  water,  he  heard  a  shrill 
voice  singing  over  and  over  again  a  single  line 
of  an  old  Methodist  hymn, 

"Roar — ing  riv — ers,  migh — ty  fountains!" 

Following  the  sound,  he  peered  over  the 
bank,  and  saw  Toddie  in  a  sunny  nook  of 
rocks  just  below  the  Falls,  and  in  a  very 
ecstasy  of  delight.  He  would  hold  out  his 
hands  as  if  to  take  the  fall  itself;  then  he 
would  throw  back  his  head  and  render  his  line 
with  more  force;  then  he  would  dance  fran 
tically  about,  as  if  his  little  body  was  unable  to 
comfortably  contain  the  great  soul  within  it . 

Suddenly  coming  up  the  sands  below  the 
cliff  appeared  Mrs.  Burton,  whose  appre- 


2i4     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

hensions  had  compelled  her  to  join  in  the 
search. 

"Oh,  Aunt  Alish!"  exclaimed  Toddie,  dis 
covering  his  aunt,  and  hurrying  to  grasp  her 
hand  in  both  of  his  own ;  "  dzust  see  de  water 
dance!  Do  you  see  all  de  lovely  lights  dat 
de  Lord's  lit  in  it  ?  Don't  you  wiss  you  could 
get  in  it,  an'  fly  froo  it,  an'  have  it  shake  itself 
all  over  you,  an'  shake  yourself  in  it,  an' 
shake  it  all  off  of  you,  an'  den  fly  into  it  aden  ? 
Deresh  placesh  like  dis  up  in  hebben.  I 
know,  'cauzh  I  saw  'em — one  time  I  did.  An' 
all  the  andzels  staid  around  'em,  an'  flew  in 
an'  out,  an'  froo  an'  froo'  an'  laughed  like 
everyfing ! ' ' 

Mr.  Burton  concealed  all  of  himself  but  his 
eyes  and  hat  to  observe  the  impending  con 
flict  of  ideas;  but  no  conflict  ensued,  for 
Mrs.  Burton  snatched  her  nephew  and  kissed 
him  soundly.  But  Toddie  wriggled  away, 
exclaiming : 

"  Don't  do  dat,  or  I'll  get  some  uvver  eyes 
when  I  don't  want  'em." 

How  long  Toddie 's  ecstasy  might  have  en 
dured  the  Burtons  never  knew,  for  a  clatter 
of  horse-hoofs  on  the  road  attracted  Mr.  Bur 
ton,  and,  looking  hastily  back,  he  beheld  one 
of  his  brother's  horses  galloping  wildly  back 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    215 


towards  Hillcrest,  while,  just  letting  go  of  a 
reinstrap,  and  enlivening  the  dust  of  the  road 
way,  was  the  form  of  the  boy  Budge,  whose 

voice  rose 
shrilly  above 
the  thunder  of 
the  falling 
waters. 
Mr.  Burton 


BUDGE  ENLIVENED  THE  DUST  OP  THE  ROADWAY 

attempted  first  to  catch  the  horse,  but  the 
animal  shied  successfully  and  had  so  clear  a 
stretch  of  roadway  before  him  that  humanity 


216     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

soon  had  Mr.  Burton's  heart  for  its  own  and 
he  hurried  to  the  assistance  of  Budge. 

"I — boo-hoo — was  just  goin'  to  lead 
the — boo-hoo-hoo — horse  down  to  water 
like — boo-hoo-hoo — ah — like  papa  does, 
when  he — oh!  how  my  elbow  hurts! — just 
pulled  away  an'  went  off.  An'  I  caught 
the  strap  to  stop  him,  an' — oh!  he  just 
pulled  me  along  on  my  mouth  in  the  dirt 
about  ten  miles.  I  swallowed  all  the  dirt 
I  could,  but  I  guess  I've  got  a  mouthful 
left." 

Mr.  Burton  hurriedly  unharnessed  the 
other  horse,  and  started,  riding  bareback,  in 
search  of  the  runaway,  while  his  wife,  who 
had  intuitively  scented  trouble  in  the  air, 
hurried  up  the  cliff  with  Toddie,  and  led  both 
boys  to  the  shadow  of  the  carriage,  with  in 
structions  to  be  perfectly  quiet  until  their 
uncle  returned. 

"Can't  we  talk?"  asked  Toddie. 

"  Oh,  not  unless  you  need  to  for  some  par 
ticular  purpose,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  who,  like 
most  other  people  in  trouble,  fought  most 
earnestly  against  any  form  of  diversion 
which  should  keep  her  from  the  extremity  of 
worry.  "Can't  little  boys'  mouths  ever  be 
quiet?" 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   217 

"Why,  yes,"  said  Budge,  "when  there's 
something  in  'em  to  keep  'em  still." 

In  utter  desperation  Mrs.  Burton  unpacked 
all  the  baskets  and  told  the  children  to  help 
themselves.  As  for  her,  she  sought  the  road 
side  and  gazed  earnestly  for  her  husband. 
Wearied  at  last  by  hope  deferred  she  re 
turned  to  the  carriage  to  find  that  the  boys 
had  eaten  all  the  pie  and  cake,  drank  the 
milk  and  ate  the  sugar  which  were  to  have 
formed  part  of  some  delicious  coffee  which 
Mr.  Burton  was  to  have  made  a  la  militaire, 
and  had  battered  into  shapelessness  a  box  of 
sardines  by  attempting  to  open  it  with  a 
stone. 

:<  You  bad  boys!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton. 
"  Now  what  will  your  poor  uncle  have  to  eat 
when  he  comes  back  all  tired,  hungry,  and 
thirsty  and  all  because  of  your  mischief, 
Budge." 

"  Why,  we  haven't  touched  the  crackers, 
Aunt  Alice, "  said  Budge.  '  They're  what  he 
gave  us  when  we  said  we  was  awful  hungry, 
an'  there's  a  whole  river  full  of  water  to 
drink,  like  he  told  us  about  when  he  thought 
we  was  thirsty." 

The  information  did  not  seem  to  console 
Mrs.  Burton,  who  ventured  to  the  roadside 


218     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

with  the  feeling  that  she  could  endure  it  to 
know  that  her  husband  was  starving  if  she 
could  only  see  him  safe  back  again.  The  mo 
ments  dragged  wearily  on,  the  boys  grew  rest 
ive  and  then  cross,  and  at  about  three  in  the 
afternoon,  Mr.  Burton  reappeared.  The  run 
away  had  nearly  reached  home,  breaking  a 
shoe  en  route,  and  his  captor  had  found  it 
necessary  to  seek  a  blacksmith.  The  horse 
he  rode  had  evidently  never  been  broken  to 
the  saddle,  and  many  had  been  the  jeers  of 
the  village  boys  at  his  rider's  apparent  mis 
management.  All  he  knew  now  was  that 
he  was  ravenously  hungry. 

"  And  the  boys  have  eaten  everything  but 
the  bread  and  crackers, "  gasped  Mrs.  Burton. 
"  I've  not  eaten  a  mouthful." 

"Goodness!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Burton,  feel 
ing  the  boys'  waist-belts;  "  didn't  they  throw 
anything  away?" 

"  Only  down  our  froats,"  said  Toddie. 

"Then  I'll  go  to  the  nearest  hotel,"  said 
the  disappointed  man,  "  and  get  a  nice 
dinner." 

"We'll  go  too,"  said  Budge.  "Pie  an' 
cake  an'  all  such  things  don't  fill  people  a  bit 
on  picnics." 

'Then  a  little  emptiness  will  be  best  for 


219 

you,"  said  Mr.  Burton.  ''You  remain  here 
with  your  aunt." 

"Well,  hurry  up,  then,"  said  Budge. 
"  Here's  the  afternoon  half  gone,  Aunt  Alice 
says,  and  you  haven't  made  us  a  whistle,  or 
taken  us  in  swimmin',  or  let  us  catch  fishes, 
or  thro  wed  big  stones  in  the  water  for  us,  or 
anythin'." 

Mr.  Burton  departed  with  becoming  meek 
ness,  his  nephew's  admonition  ringing  in  his 
ears,  while  the  boys  hovered  solemnly  about 
their  aunt  until  she  exclaimed: 

"  Why  are  you  acting  so  strangely,  boys?" 

"Oh,  we  feel  kind  o'  forlorn,  an'  we  want 
to  be  comforted,"  said  Budge. 

"  Will  you  comfort  poor  Uncle  Harry  when 
he  comes  back?"  asked  Mrs.  Burton. 

11  Why,  I  heard  him  once  tell  you  that  you 
were  his  comfort,"  said  Budge;  "and  com 
forts  oughtn't  to  be  mixed  up  if  folks  is  goin' 
to  get  all  the  good  out  of  'em;  that's  what 
papa  says." 

Mrs.  Burton  kissed  both  nephews  effusively 
and  asked  them  what  she  could  do  for  them. 

"  I  doe  know,"  said  Toddie. 

Inspiration  came  to  Mrs.  Burton's  assist 
ance  and  she  said, 

;<  You  may  both  do  exactly  as  you  please." 


220     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  Hooray ! ' '   shouted    Budge. 

"An'  you  izhn't  go  in'  to  say  'Don't!'  a 
single  bit?"  Toddie  asked. 

"No." 

"  Oh! "  exclaimed  both  brothers,  in  unison. 

Then  they  clasped  hands  and  walked 
slowly  and  silently  away.  They  even  stopped 
to  kiss  each  other,  while  Mrs.  Burton  looked 
on  in  silent  amazement. 

Was  this  really  the  result  of  not  keeping  a 
watchful  eye  upon  children? 

The  boys  rambled  quietly  along,  sat  down 
on  a  large  rock,  put  their  arms  around  each 
other  and  gazed  silently  at  the  scenery. 
They  sat  there  until  their  uncle  returned  and 
their  aunt  pointed  out  the  couple  to  him. 
Then  the  adults  insensibly  followed  the  ex 
ample  set  by  the  juveniles,  and  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  sweet  peace  ruled  for  an  hour, 
until  old  Sol,  who  once  stood  still  to  look  at 
a  fight  but  never  paused  to  contemplate 
humanity  conquered  by  the  tender  influences 
of  nature,  warned  the  party  that  it  was  time 
to  return. 

"It's  time  to  go,  boys,"  said  Mr.  Burton, 
with  a  sigh. 

The  words  snapped  the  invisible  thread 
that  had  held  the  children  in  exquisite  cap- 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   221 

tivity,  and  they  were  boys  again  in  an 
instant,  though  not  without  a  wistful  glance 
at  the  Eden  they  were  leaving. 

"  Now,  Uncle  Harry,"  said  Budge,  "  there's 
always  one  thing  that 's  got  to  be  done  before 
a  picnic  an'  a  ride  is  just  right,  an'  that  is  for 
me  to  drive  the  horses." 

"An'  me  to  hold  de  whip,"  said  Toddie. 

"  Oh,  I  think  you've  done  your  whole  duty 
to-day — both  of  you,"  said  Mr.  Burton,  in 
stinctively  grasping  his  lines  more  tightly. 

"  But  we  don't,"  said  Budge,  "an 'we  know. 
Goin'  up  the  mountain  papa  always  lets  us  do 
it  an'  he  says  the  horses  always  know  the 
minute  we  take  'em  in  hand." 

"I  shouldn't  wonder.  Well,  here's  a  hill; 
take  hold!" 

Budge  seized  the  reins,  and  Toddie  took 
the  wThip  from  its  socket.  The  noble  animals 
at  once  sustained  their  master's  statement, 
for  they  began  to  prance  in  a  manner  utterly 
unbecoming  quiet  family  horses.  Mrs.  Bur 
ton  clutched  her  husband's  arm,  and  Mr. 
Burton  prudently  laid  his  own  hand  upon  the 
loop  of  the  reins. 

The  crest  of  the  hill  was  reached,  Mr.  Bur 
ton  took  the  reins  from  the  hand  of  his 
nephew,  but  Toddie  made  one  final  clutch  at 


222     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

departing  authority  by  giving  the  off  horse 
a  spirited  cut.  Tom  Lawrence  would  never 
own  a  horse  that  needed  a  touch  of  the  whip, 
though  that  emblem  of  authority  always 
adorned  his  carriage.  When,  therefore,  this 
unfamiliar  attention  greeted  them  the  horse 
who  was  struck  became  gloriously  indignant, 
and  his  companion  sympathized  with  him 
and  the  heels  of  both  animals  shot  high  in 
the  air  and  then,  at  a  pace  which  nothing 
could  arrest,  the  horses  dashed  down  the 
rocky,  rugged  road.  The  top  of  a  boulder, 
whose  side  had  been  cleanly  washed,  lay  in 
the  path  of  the  carriage,  and  Mr.  Burton  gave 
the  opposite  rein  a  hasty  twist  about  his 
hand  as  he  tried  to  draw  to  the  side  of  the 
road.  But  what  was  a  boulder,  that  equine 
indignation  should  regard  it?  The  stone 
was  directly  in  front  and  in  line  of  the  wheels. 
Mrs.  Burton  prepared  for  final  dissolution  by 
clasping  her  husband  tightly  with  one  arm, 
while  with  the  other  she  clutched  at  the  reins. 
The  boys  started  the  negro  hymn,  "  Oh,  De 
Rocky  Road  to  Zion,"  the  wheels  struck  the 
boulder,  four  people  described  curves  in  air 
and  ceased  only  when  their  further  progress 
was  arrested  by  some  bushes  at  the  roadside. 
The  carriage  righted  itself  and  was  hurried 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    223 

home  by  the  horses,  while  a  party  of  pedes 
trians,  two  of  whom  were  very  merry  and 
two  utterly  reticent,  completed  their  journey 
on  foot,  pausing  only  to  bathe  scratched 
faces  at  a  brookside.  And  when,  an  hour 
later,  two  little  boys  had  been  prepared  for 
bed,  and  their  temporary  guardians  were 
alternately  laughing  and  complaining  over 
the  incidents  of  the  day,  a  voice  was  heard  at 
the  head  of  the  stairs,  saying: 

"  Uncle  Harry,  are  we  going  to  finish  the 
picnic  to-morrow  ?  'Cause  we  didn't  get  half 
through  to-day.  There's  lots  of  picnicky 
things  that  we  didn't  get  a  chance  to  think 
about." 

And  another  voice  shouted: 

"An'  letsh  take  more  lunch  wif  us.  I'zhe 
been  awful  hungwy  all  day  long!" 


224     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 


CHAPTER  VIII 

ONLY  three  more  days,"  soliloquized 
Mrs.  Burton,  when  the  departure  of 
her  husband  for  New  York  and  the  disap 
pearance  of  the  boys  gave  her  a  quiet  mo 
ment  to  herself.  ;<  Three  more  days,  and 
then  peace — and  a  life-long  sense  of  defeat! 
And  by  whom?  By  two  mere  infants — in 
years.  I  erred  in  not  taking  them  singly. 
When  they  are  together  it's  impossible  to 
take  their  minds  from  their  own  childish  af 
fairs  long  enough  to  impress  them  with  larger 
sense  and  better  ways.  But  I  didn't  take 
them  singly,  and  I  have  talked,  and  oh— 
stupidest  of  women! — I've  blundered  upon 
my  husband  for  my  principal  listener.  He 
does  get  along  with  them  better  than  I  do, 
and  the  exasperating  thing  about  it  is  that  he 
seems  to  do  it  without  the  slightest  effort . 
How  is  it?  They  cling  to  him,  obey  him, 
sit  by  the  roadside  for  an  hour  before  train 
time  just  to  catch  the  first  glimpse  of  him, 
while  I — am  I  growing  uninteresting?  Many 
woman  do  after  they  marry,  but  I  didn't 
think  that  I" — here  Mrs.  Burton  extracted  a 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    225 

tiny  mirror  from  a  vase  on  the  mantel— 
"  that  I  could  be  made  stupid  by  marrying  a 
loving  old  merry  heart  like  Harry!" 

Mrs.  Burton  scrutinized  her  lineaments  in 
tently.  A  wistful  earnestness  stole  into  her 
face  as  she  studied  it,  and  it  softened  every 
line.  Suddenly  but  softly  a  little  arm  stole 
about  her  neck,  and  a  little  voice  exclaimed : 

"Aunt  Alice,  why  don't  you  always  look 
that  way?  There!  Now  you're  stoppin'  it. 
Big  folks  is  just  like  little  boys,  ain't  they? 
Mamma  says  it's  never  safe  to  tell  us  we're 
good,  'cause  we  go  an'  stop  it  right  away." 

"  When  did  you  come  in,  Budge  ?  How  did 
you  come  so  softly?  Have  you  been  listen 
ing?  Don't  you  know  it  is  very  impolite  to 
listen  to  people  wrhen  they're  not  talking  to 
you?  Why,  where  are  your  shoes  and 
stockings  ? ' ' 

"  Why,"  said  Budge,  "  I  took  'em  off  so's- 
so's  to  get  some  cake  for  a  little  tea-party 
without  makin'  a  noise  about  it!  You  say 
our  little  boots  make  an  awful  racket.  But 
say,  why  don't  you?" 

"  Why  don't  I  what?"  asked  Mrs.  Burton, 
her  whole  train  of  thought  whisking  out  of 
sight  at -lightning  speed. 

"Why  don't  you  always  look  like  you  did 


226     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

a  minute  ago?  If  you  did,  I  wouldn't  ever 
play  or  make  trouble  a  bit.  I'd  just  sit  still 
all  the  time,  and  do  nothin'  but  look  at  you." 

"How  did  I  look,  Budge?"  asked  Mrs. 
Burton,  taking  the  child  into  her  arms. 

"  Why,  you  looked  as  if — as  if — well,  I 
don't  'zactly  know.  You  looked  like  papa's 
picture  of  Jesus 's  mamma  does,  after  you  look 
at  it  a  long  time  an'  nobody  is  there  to  bother 
you.  I  never  saw  anybody  else  look  that 
way  'xcept  my  mamma,  an'  when  she  does  it 
I  don't  ever  say  a  word,  else  mebbe  she'll 
stop." 

:'You  can  have  the  cake  you  came  for," 
said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"  I  don't  want  any  cake,"  said  Budge,  with 
an  impatient  movement.  "  I  don't  want  any 
tea-party.  I  want  to  stay  with  you,  an'  I 
want  you  to  talk  to  me,  'cause  you're  begin- 
nin'  to  look  that  way  again."  Here  Budge 
nearly  strangled  his  aunt  in  a  tight  embrace, 
and  kissed  her  repeatedly. 

"You  darling  little  fellow,"  asked  Mrs. 
Burton,  while  returning  his  caresses,  "  do  you 
know  why  I  looked  as  I  did  ?  I  was  wonder 
ing  why  you  and  Toddie  love  your  Uncle 
Harry  so  much  better  than  you  love  me,  and 
why  you  always  mind  him  and  disobey  me." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    227 

Budge  was  silent  for  a  moment  or  two, 
then  he  sighed  and  answered: 

"  'Cause." 

"Because  of  what?"  asked  Mrs.  Burton. 
'  You  would  make  me  very  happy  if  you  were 
to  explain  it  to  me." 


WELL,"   SAID  BUDGE,       CAUSE   YOU  RE    DIFFERENT- 


"Well,"  said  Budge,  (<  'cause  you're  dif 
ferent." 

"  But,  Budge,  I  know  a  great  many  people 
who  are  not  like  each  other,  but  I  love  them 
equally  well." 


228     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

'They  ain't  uncles  and  aunts,  are  they?" 

"No,  but  what  has  that  to  do  with  it?" 

"And  they're  not  folks  you  have  to  mind, 
are  they?"  continued  Budge. 

"  N—  —no,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  descrying  a 
dim  light  afar  off. 

"Do  they  want  you  to  do  things  their  way  ? '' 

"  Some  of  them  do." 

"An'  do  you  do  it?" 

"Sometimes  I  do." 

'You  don't  unless  you  want  to,  do  you?" 

"No!" 

"Well,  neither  do  I,"  said  Budge.  "But 
when  Uncle  Harry  wants  me  to  do  somethin', 
why  somehow  or  other  I  want  to  do  it  my 
self  after  a  while.  I  don't  know  why,  but  I 
do.  An'  I  don't  always,  when  you  tell  me  to. 
I  love  you  ever  so  much  when  you  ain't  tellin' 
me  things,  but  when  you  are,  then  they  ain't 
ever  what  I  want  to  do.  That's  all  I  know 
'bout  it.  'Xcept,  he  don't  want  me  to  do 
such  lots  of  things  as  you  do.  He  likes  to 
see  us  enjoy  ourselves ;  but  sometimes  I  think 
you  don 't .  We  can 't  be  happy  only  our  way, 
an'  our  way  seems  to  be  like  Uncle  Harry's, 
an'  yours  ain't." 

Mrs.  Burton  mused,  and  gradually  her  lips 
twitched  back  into  their  natural  lines. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    229 

"  There — you're  stoppin' lookin'  that  way, " 
said  Budge,  sighing  and  straightening  him 
self.  "I  guess  I  do  want  the  cake  an'  the 
tea-party." 

"Don't  go,  Budgie,  dear,"  exclaimed  Mrs. 
Burton,  clasping  the  boy  tightly.  "  When 
any  one  teaches  you  anything  that  you  want 
very  much  to  know  doesn't  it  make  you 
happy  ? ' ' 

"Oh,  yes — lots,"  said  Budge. 

"  Well,  then,  if  you  try,  perhaps  you  can 
teach  Aunt  Alice  something  that  she  wants 
very  much  to  know." 

"  What ! ' '  exclaimed  Budge.  "  A  little  boy 
teach  a  grown  folks  lady?  I  guess  I'll  stay." 

"  I  want  to  understand  all  about  this  dif- 
erence  between  your  Uncle  Harry  and  me," 
continued  Mrs.  Burton.  "  Do  you  think  you 
minded  him  very  well  last  summer?" 

'  That's  too  long  ago  for  me  to  remember," 
said  Budge  "  But  I  didn't  ever  mind  him 
unless  I  wanted  to,  or  else  had  to,  an'  when 
I  had  to  an'  didn't  want  to  I  didn't  love  him 
a  bit.  I  talked  to  papa  about  it  when  we  got 
back  home  again,  an'  he  said  'twas  'cause 
Uncle  Harry  didn't  know  us  well  enough  an' 
didn't  always  have  time  to  find  out  all  about 
us.  Then  they  had  a  talk  about  it — papa 


23o     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

and  Uncle  Harry  did,  in  the  library  one  day. 
I  know  they  did,  'cause  I  was  playin'  blocks 
in  a  corner,  an'  I  just  stopped  a-playin'  an' 
listened  to  'em.  An'  all  at  once  papa  said, 
'  Little  pitchers! '  an'  said  I'd  oblige  him  very 
much  if  I'd  go  to  the  store  and  buy  him  a 
box  of  matches.  But  I  just  listened  a  min 
ute  after  I  went  out  of  the  room,  until  I  heard 
Uncle  Harry  say  he'd  been  a  donkey.  I 
knew  he  was  mistaken  about  that,  so  I  went 
back  an'  told  him  he  hadn't  ever  been  any 
animals  but  what's  in  a  menagerie,  an'  then 
they  both  laughed  an'  went  out  walkin', 
an'  I  don't  know  what  they  said  after  that. 
Only  Uncle  Harry's  been  awful  good  to  me 
ever  since,  though  sometimes  I  bother  him 
when  I  don't  mean  to." 

Mrs.  Burton  released  one  arm  from  her 
nephew  and  rested  her  head  thoughtfully  up 
on  her  hand.  Budge  looked  up  and  exclaimed : 

'There!  You're  looking  that  way  again. 
Say,  Aunt  Alice,  don't  Uncle  Harry  love  you 
lots  an'  lots  when  you  look  so?" 

Mrs.  Burton  recalled  evidence  of  such  ex 
periences,  but  before  she  could  say  so  a  small 
curly  head  came  cautiously  around  the  edge 
of  the  door,  and  then  it  was  followed  by  the 
whole  of  Toddie,  who  exclaimed: 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   231 

"  I  fink  you 's  a  real  mean  bruvver,  Budgie! 
De  tea-party's  been  all  ready  for  you  an'  de 
cake  till  I  had  to  eat  up  all  de  strawberries  to 
keep  de  nasty  little  ants  from  eatin'  'em.  I 
yet  up  de  cabbage-leaf  plate  dey  was  in,  too, 
to  keep  me  from  gettin'  hungrier." 

'  There ! ' '  exclaimed  Budge,  springing  from 
his  aunt's  lap.  '  That's  just  the  way,  when 
ever  I'm  lovin'  to  anybody,  somethin'  always 
goes  and  happens." 

"Is  that  all  you  care  for  your  aunt,  Budge  ? ' 
asked  Mrs.  Burton.  "  Is  a  tea-party  worth 
more  than  me?" 

Budge  reflected  for  a  moment.  "Well," 
said  he,  "  didn't  you  cry  when  your  tea-party 
was  spoiled  last  week  on  your  burfday?  To 
be  sure,  your  tea-party  was  bigger  than  ours, 
but  then  you're  a  good  deal  bigger  than  we, 
too,  an'  I  haven't  cried  a  bit." 

Mrs.  Burton  saw  the  point  and  was  men 
tally  unable  to  avoid  it.  The  view  was  not  a 
pleasant  one,  and  grew  more  humiliating  the 
longer  it  was  presented.  It  was,  perhaps,  to 
banish  it  that  she  rose  from  her  chair,  brought 
from  a  closet  in  the  dining-room  some  of  the 
coveted  cake  and  gave  a  piece  to  each  boy, 
saying : 

"  It  isn't  that  Aunt  Alice  cares  so  much  for 


232     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

her  cake,  dears,  that  she  doesn't  like  you  to 
have  it  between  meals,  but  because  it  is  bad 
for  little  boys  to  eat  such  heavy  food  except 
ing  at  their  regular  meals.  There  are  grown 
people  who  were  once  happy  little  children, 
but  now  they  are  very  cross  all  the  while  be 
cause  their  stomachs  are  disordered  by 
having  eaten  when  they  should  not,  and 
eating  things  which  are  richer  and  heavier 
than  their  bodies  can  use." 

"Well,"  said  Budge,  crowding  the  con 
tents  of  his  mouth  into  his  cheeks,  "we  can 
eat  somethin'  plainer  an'  lighter  to  mix  up 
with  'em  inside  of  us.  I  should  think  char- 
lotte-russe  or  whipped  cream  would  be  about 
the  thing.  Shall  I  ask  the  cook  to  fix  some  ? ' ' 

"  No!  Exercise  would  be  better  than  any 
thing  else.  I  think  you  had  better  take  a 
walk." 

"Up  to  Hawkshnesht  Rock?"  Toddie  sug 
gested. 

"Oh,  yes!"  exclaimed  Budge.  "An'  you 
come  with  us,  Aunt  Alice;  perhaps  you'll 
look  that  way  again;  that  way,  you  know, 
an'  I  wouldn't  like  to  lose  any  of  it." 

Mrs.  Burton  could  not  decline  so  delicate 
an  invitation,  and  soon  the  trio  were  on  the 
road,  Mrs.  Burton  walking  leisurely  on  the 


PRETEXDIXG   TO    BE    HORSES 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY  233 

turf  by  the  side,  while  the  boys  ploughed 
their  way  through  the  dust  of  the  middle  of 
the  road,  pretending  to  be  horses  and  suc 
ceeding  so  far  as  to  create  a  dust-cloud  which 
no  team  of  horses  could  have  excelled. 

"  Boys,  boys ! ' '  shouted  Mrs.  Burton.  "  Is 
no  one  going  to  be  company  for  me  ? ' ' 

"  Oh,  I'll  be  your  gentleman,"  said  Budge. 

"I'll  help,"  said  Toddie,  and  both  boys 
hurried  to  their  aunt's  side. 

"Little  boys,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  gently, 
"  do  you  know  that  your  mamma  and  papa 
have  to  pay  a  high  price  for  the  fun  you  have 
in  kicking  up  dust?  Look  at  your  clothes! 
They  must  be  sent  to  the  cleaner's  before 
they  will  ever  again  be  fit  to  wear  where  re 
spectable  people  can  see  you." 

"  Then,"  said  Budge,  "  they're  just  right  to 
give  to  poor  little  boys,  and  just  think  how 
glad  they'll  be!  I  guess  they'll  thank  the 
Lord  'cause  we  run  in  the  dust." 

'  The  poor  little  boys  would  have  been  just 
as  glad  to  have  them  while  they  were  clean," 
said  Mrs.  Burton,  "  and  the  kindness  would 
have  cost  your  papa  and  mamma  no  more." 

"  Well,  then — then — then  I  guess  we'd  bet 
ter  talk  about  something  else,"  said  Budge, 
"  an'  go  'long  froo  the  woods  instead  of  in  the 


234     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

road.  Oh — h — h!"  he  continued,  kicking 
through  some  grass  under  the  chestnut-trees 
by  the  roadside,  "here's  a  chestnut!  Is  it 
chest  nut -time  again  already?" 

"  Oh,  no,  that's  one  of  last  year's  nuts." 

"H'm!"  exclaimed  Budge;  "I  ought  to 
have  known  that.  It's  dreadfully  old-fash 
ioned." 

"Old-fashioned?" 

:'Yes;  it's  full  of  wrinkles,  don't  you  see; 
like  the  face  of  Mrs.  Paynter,  an'  you  say 
she's  old-fashioned." 

"Aunt  Alice,"  said  Toddie,  "birch-trees 
izh  de  only  kind  dat  wearzsh  Sunday  clothes, 
ain't  dey?  Deyzh  always  all  in  white,  like 
me  and  Budgie,  when  we  goes  to  Sunday- 
school.  Gwacious!"  he  exclaimed,  as  he 
leaned  against  one  of  the  birches  and  exam 
ined  its  outer  garments.  "  Deyzh  Sunday 
trees  awful;  dish  one  is  singin'  a  song!  Dzust 
come — hark ! ' ' 

Though  somewhat  startled  at  the  range  of 
Toddie 's  imagination,  and  wondering  what 
incentive  it  had  on  the  present  occasion, 
Mrs.  Burton  approached  the  tree,  and  solved 
the  mystery  by  hearing  the  breeze  sighing 
softly  through  the  branches.  She  told  Toddie 
what  caused  the  sound,  and  the  child  replied : 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   235 

"  Den  it's  de  Lord  come  down  to  sing  in  it, 
'cauzh  it's  got  Sunday  clothes  on.  Datsh  it, 
izhn'tit?" 

"Oh,  no,  Toddie;  the  wind  is  only  the 
wind." 

"  Why  I  always  fought  it  wazh  the  Lord 
a-talkin',  when  the  wind  blowed.  I  guesh 
somebody  tolded  me  so,  'cauzh  I  fought  dat 
before  I  had  many  uvver  finks." 

Up  the  mountain-road  leisurely  sauntered 
Mrs.  Burton,  while  her  nephews  examined 
every  large  stone,  boulder  tree  and  hole  in 
the  ground  en  route. 

The  top  of  the  hill  was  gained  at  last  and 
with  a  long-drawn  "Oh!"  both  boys  sat 
down  and  gazed  in  delight  at  the  extended 
scene  before  them.  Budge  broke  the  silence 
by  asking : 

"  Aunt  Alice,  don't  you  s'pose  dear  brother 
Phillie,  up  in  heaven,  is  lookin'  at  all  these 
towns,  an'  hills,  an'  rivers,  an'  things,  just 
like  we  are  ? ' ' 

"Very  likely,  dear." 

"  Well,  then  he  can  see  a  good  deal  further 
than  we  can.  Do  our  spirits  have  new  eyes 
put  in  'em  when  they  get  up  to  heaven  ? ' ' 

"  I  don't  know.  Perhaps  they  merely 
have  their  sight  made  better." 


236     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  Why,  does  spirits  take  deir  old  eyes  wif 
'em  to  hebben,  an'  leave  all  de  rest  part  of 
'em  in  de  deader?"  asked  Toddie. 

Mrs.  Burton  realized  that  she  had  been  too 
hasty  in  assuming  knowledge  of  spiritual 
physiognomy,  and  she  endeavored  to  retract 
by  saying : 

"Spiritual  eyes  and  bodily  eyes  are  differ 
ent." 

"  Does  dust  and  choo-choo  cinders  ever 
get  into  spirit  eyes,  an'  make  little  boy  and- 
zels  cry,  and  growed-up  andzels  say  swear 
wordsh?"  asked  Toddie. 

"Certainly  not.  There's  no  crying  or 
swearing  in  heaven." 

'  Then  what  does  angels  do  with  the  water 
in  their  eyes,  when  they  hear  music  that 
makes  'em  feel  as  if  wind  was  blowin'  fro 
'em?"  asked  Budge. 

Mrs.  Burton  endeavored  to  change  the 
subject  of  conversation  to  one  with  which 
she  wras  more  familiar,  by  asking  Budge  if  he 
knew  that  there  were  hills  a  hundred  times 
as  high  as  Hawksnest  Rock. 

"  Goodness,  no1  Why,  I  should  think  you 
could  look  right  into  heaven  from  the  tops  of 
them.  Can't  you?" 

"No,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  with  some  im- 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    237 

patience  at  the  result  of  her  attempt.  "  Be 
sides,  their  tops  are  covered  with  snow  all  the 
time,  and  nobody  can  get  up  to  them." 

"Then  the  little  boy  andzels  can  play 
snowballs  on  'em  wifout  no  cross  mans  comin' 
up  an'  sayin',  '  Don't! '  "  said  Toddie. 

Mrs.  Burton  tried  again: 

"See  how  high  that  bird  is  flying,"  she 
said,  pointing  to  a  hawk  who  was  soaring 
far  above  the  hill. 

'Yes,"  said  Budge..  "He  can  go  up  into 
heaven  whenever  he  wants  to,  'cause  he's  got 
wings.  I  don't  know  why  birds  have  got 
wings  and  little  boys  haven't." 

"Little  boys  are  already  hard  enough  to 
find  when  they're  wanted,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 
"  If  they  had  wings  they'd  always  be  out  of 
sight.  But  what  makes  you  little  boys  talk 
so  much  about  heaven  to-day  ? ' ' 

"  Oh,  'cause  we're  up  so  much  closer  to  it, 
I  suppose,"  said  Budge,  "when  we're  on  a 
high  hill  like  this." 

"  Don't  you  think  it  must  be  nearly  lunch 
ing  time?"  asked  Mrs.  Burton,  using,  in  de 
spair,  the  argument  which  has  seldom  failed 
with  healthy  children. 

"Certainly,"  said  Budge.  "I  always  do. 
Come  on,  Tod.  Let's  go  the  quickest  way." 


238     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

The  shortest  way  was  by  numerous  short 
cuts,  with  which  the  boys  seemed  perfectly 
acquainted.  One  of  these,  howrever,  was  by 
a  steep  incline,  and  Budge,  perhaps  snuffing 
the  lunch-basket  afar  off,  descended  so  rap 
idly  that  he  lost  his  balance,  fell  forward, 
tried  to  recover  himself,  failed,  and  slipped 
rapidly  through  a  narrow  path  which  finally 
ended  in  a  gutter  traversing  it. 

"Ow!"  he  exclaimed  as  he  picked  himself 
up,  and  relieved  himself  of  a  mouthful  of  mud. 
"  Did  you  see  my  back  come  up  an'  me  walk 
down  the  mountain  on  my  mouth?  I  think 
a  snake  would  be  ashamed  of  himself  to  see 
how  easy  it  was.  I  didn't  try  a  bit,  I  just 
went  slip,  slop,  bunk!  to  the  bottom." 

"An'  you  didn't  get  scolded  for  dytyin' 
your  clothes,  either."  said  Toddie.  "Let's 
sing  'Gloly,  Gloly,  Hallehelyah." 

The  subject  of  dirt  upon  juvenile  raiment 
began  to  trouble  the  mind  of  Mrs.  Burton. 
Could  it  be  possible  that  children  had  a 
natural  right  to  dirtier  clothing  than  adults, 
and  without  incurring  special  blame?  Was 
dirtiness  sinful?  Well,  yes — that  is,  it  wTas 
disgusting,  and  whatever  was  disgusting  was 
worse  in  the  eyes  of  Mrs.  Burton  than  what 
was  sinful.  Could  children  be  as  neat  as 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    239 


adults  ?  Had  they  either  the  requisite  sense, 
perception  or  the  acquired  habit  of  careful 
ness?  Again  Mrs.  Burton  went  into  a  study 
of  the  brownest  description,  while  the  chil 
dren  improved  her  moments 
of  preoccupation  to  do  all 
sorts  of  things  which  would 
have  seemed  dreadful  to 
their  aunt  but  were  delight 
ful  to  themselves .  At  length , 
however,  they  reached 
the  Burton  dining- 
table,  and  managed 
a  series  of  rapid  dis- 
appearances  for 
whatever  was 
upon  it. 

"Aunt  Alice," 
said  Budge,'' 
after  finish-' 
ing  his  meal, 


BUDGE  LOST  HIS    BALANCE 


24o   BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  what  are  you  going  to  do  to  make  us  happy 
this  afternoon?" 

"  I  think,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "  I  shall  allow 
you  to  amuse  yourselves.  I  shall  be  quite 
busy  superintending  the  baking.  Our  cook 
has  only  recently  come  to  us,  you  know,  and 
she  may  need  some  help  from  me." 

"  I  fought  bakin's  wazh  alwaysh  in  morn- 
in's?"  said  Toddie.  "My  mamma  says  dat 
only  lazy  peoplesh  bakesh  in  affernoonzh." 

"The  cook  wras  too  busily  engaged  other 
wise  this  morning,  Toddie, "  said  Mrs.  Burton. 
"  Besides,  people  bake  mornings  because  they 
are  compelled  to ;  for,  when  they  put  bread  to 
rise  overnight,  they  must  bake  in  the  morn 
ing.  But  there  is  a  new  kind  of  yeast  now 
that  lets  us  make  our  bread  whenever  we 
want  to,  within  a  couple  of  hours  from  the 
time  of  beginning." 

"Do  you  know,  Aunt  Alice,"  said  Budge, 
"that  we  can  bake?  We  can — real  nice. 
We've  helped  mamma  make  pies  an'  cakes 
lots  of  times,  only  hers  are  big  ones  an'  ours 
are  baby  ones." 

"  I  suppose  I  am  to  construe  that  remark 
as  a  hint  that  you  would  like  to  help  me?" 
said  Mrs.  Burton.  "If  you  will  do  only  what 
you  are  told,  you  may  go  to  the  kitchen  writh 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     241 

me;  but  listen — the  moment  you  give  the 
cook  or  me  the  least  bit  of  trouble,  out  you 
shall  go." 

"Oh,  goody,  goody!"  shouted  Toddie. 
"An'  can  we  have  tea-parties  on  de  kitchen- 
table  as  fast  as  we  bake  rings  ? ' ' 

"  I  suppose  so." 

"  Come  on.  My  hands  won't  be  still  a  bit- 
tie,  I  wantsh  to  work  so  much.  How  many 
kindsh  of  pies  is  you  goin'  to  make?" 

"None  at  all." 

"Gwacious!  I  shouldn't  fink  you'd  call  it 
bakin'-day.den.  Izhn't  you  goin'  to  make 
nofnn'  but  ole  nashty  bwead?" 

"  Perhaps  I  can  find  a  way  for  you  to  make 
a  little  cake  or  some  buns, "said  Mrs.  Burton, 
relenting. 

"Well,  that  would  be  kind  o'  bakin'-day 
like;  but  my  hands  is  gettin'  still  again  awful 
fasht." 

Mrs.  Burton  led  the  way  to  the  kitchen, 
and  the  preparation  of  the  staff  of  life  was 
begun  by  the  new  cook,  with  such  assistance 
as  a  small  boy  wedged  closely  under  each 
elbow,  and  two  inquiring  faces  hanging  over 
the  very  edge  of  the  bread-pan. 

'That  don't  look  very  cakey,"  remarked 
Budge.  "  She  ain't  put  any  powder  into  it." 


242     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  This  kind  of  bread  needs  no  powder. 
Baking-powders  are  used  only  in  tea-biscuit. " 

"  When  tea-biscuits  goes  in  de  oven  dey  ish 
little  bits  of  flat  rings,"  said  Toddie — "deysh 
little  bits  of  flat  fings,  but  when  dey  comes 
out  dey's  awful  big  an'  fat.  What  makes  'em 
bake  big?" 

'That's  what  the  powder  is  put  in  for," 
said  Mrs.  Burton.  "They'd  be  little,  taste 
less  things  if  it  weren't  for  the  powder. 
Bridget,  work  some  sweetening  with  a  little 
of  the  dough,  so  the  boys  can  have  some 
buns." 

Both  boys  escorted  the  cook  to  the  pantry 
for  sugar,  and  back  again  to  the  table,  and 
got  their  noses  as  nearly  as  possible  under  the 
roller  with  which  the  sugar  was  crushed,  and 
they  superintended  the  operation  of  working 
it  into  the  dough,  and  then  Mrs.  Burton 
found  some  very  small  pans  in  the  center  of 
which  the  boys  put  single  buns  which  they 
were  themselves  allowed  to  shape.  A  hap 
py  inspiration  came  to  Mrs.  Burton;  she 
brought  a  few  raisins  from  the  pantry  and 
placed  one  upon  the  center  of  each  tiny  bun 
as  it  was  made,  and  she  was  rewarded  by  a 
dual  shriek  of  delight. 

"Stop,  Toddie!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    243 

suddenly  noticing  that  Toddie  was  shaping 
his  dough  by  rolling  it  vigorously  between 
his  hands,  as  little  boys  treat  clay  while  at 
tempting  to  make  marbles.  "If  you  press 
your  dough  hard  it  will  never  bake  light  in 
the  world." 


TWO    INQUIRING    FACES    HANGING    OVER    THE    BREAD-PAN 

'You  mean  de  hot  won't  make  it  grow 
big?" 

"Yes." 

"  Datzh  too  baddy.  It'sh  awful  too  bad 
dy,"  said  Toddie  "Dere  won't  be  as  much 


244    BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

of  'em  to  eat.  Tell  you  what — put  some 
powder  in  it  to  help  the  uvver  swelly  stuff." 

"I'm  afraid  that  won't  do  any  good." 

"Might  twy  it,"  Toddie  suggested.  "Ah 
— h — h — Budgie's  makin'  some  of  my  buns 
baldheaded." 

"  What  do  you  mean? ' '  Mrs.  Burton  asked. 

"He's  takin'  de  raisins  off  de  tops  of  'em, 
an'  dat  makes  'em  baldheaded." 

"I  was  only  keepin'  'em  from  lookin'  all 
alike,"  explained  Budge,  hastily  putting  the 
raisins  where  they  could  not  be  affected  by 
any  future  proceedings.  "Don't  you  see, 
Toddie,  you'll  have  two  kinds  of  buns 
now  ? ' ' 

"Don't  want  two  kindsh,"  cried  Toddie. 
"  I'ze  a  good  mind  to  cut  you  open  an'  take 
dem  heads  back  again." 

Budge  was  reproved  by  his  aunt,  and  Tod 
die  was  pacified  by  the  removal  of  raisins 
from  his  brother's  buns  to  his  own.  Then 
some  of  the  little  pans  were  placed  in  the 
vacant  space  in  the  oven,  and  during  the 
next  fifteen  minutes  Mrs.  Burton  was  im 
plored  at  least  twenty  times  to  see  if  they 
weren't  almost  done.  When,  finally  baked, 
Toddie 's  were  as  small  as  bullets  and  about 
as  hard. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     245 

"Put  some  powder  in  de  rest  of  dem," 
pleaded  Toddie. 

"  It  wouldn't  do  the  slightest  bit  of  good," 
said  Mrs.  Burton. 

Further  entreaties  led  to  a  conflict  be 
tween  will  and  authority,  after  which  Toddie 
sulked  and  disappeared,  carrying  one  of  his 
precious  pans  with  him.  When  he  returned 
the  baking  was  over,  and  the  oven-door  was 
open. 

"  Izhe  a-goin'  to  bake  dis  uvver  one  any 
how,"  said  Toddie,  putting  the  single  remain 
ing  pan  into  the  oven  and  closing  the  door. 
"Say,  Aunt  Alice,"  he  continued,  his  good, 
nature  returning,  "  now  fix  dat  tea-party  we 
was  goin'  to  have  wif  our  own  rings.  You 
can  come  to  the  table  wif  us  if  you  want  to." 

"  Only,  don't  you  think  she  ought  to  bring 
somethin'  with  her ? ' '  asked  Budge.  "  That's 
the  way  little  boys'  tea-parties  out  of  doors 
always  are. ' ' 

Mrs.  Burton  herself  rendered  a  satisfactory 
decision  upon  this  question  by  making  a 
small  pitcher  of  lemonade:  the  table  was 
drawn  as  near  the  door  as  possible,  to  avoid 
the  heat  of  the  room;  Budge  escorted  his 
aunt  to  the  seat  of  honor,  and,  when  all 
were  seated,  he  asked: 


246     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  Do  you  think  these  is  enough  things  to 
ask  a  blessin'  over?  Sometimes  we  do  it,  an' 
sometimes  we  don't,  'cordin'  to  how  much 
we've  got." 

Mrs.  Burton  rapidly  framed  a  small  ex 
planatory  lecture  on  the  principle  under 
lying  the  custom  of  grace  at  meals ;  but  what 
ever  may  have  been  its  merits  the  boys  never 
had  an  opportunity  of  judging,  for  suddenly 
a  loud  report  startled  the  party,  a  piece  of 
the  stove  flew  violently  across  the  room  and 
broke  against  the  wall,  the  stove-lids  shivered 
violently  and  the  doors  fell  open;  the  poker, 
which  had  lain  on  the  stove,  danced  fran 
tically,  and  a  small  pan  of  some  sort  of  fat, 
such  as  some  cooks  have  a  fancy  to  be  always 
doing  something  with  but  never  do  it,  was 
shaken  over  and  its  burning  contents  began 
to  diffuse  a  sickening  odor.  The  cook 
dropped  upon  her  knees,  the  party  arose— 
Budge  roaring,  Toddie  screaming,  and  Mrs. 
Burton  very  pale,  while  the  cook  gasped: 

"The  wather-back's  busted!" 

Mrs.  Burton  disengaged  herself  from  her 
clinging  nephews  and  approached  the  range 
cautiously.  There  was  no  sign  of  water  and 
the  back  of  the  range  was  undisturbed ;  even 
the  fire  was  not  disarranged. 


A    LOUD    REPORT   STARTLED   THE    PARTY 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    247 

"It  isn't  the  water-back,"  said  Mrs.  Bur 
ton,  "nor  the  fire.  What  could  it  have 
been  ? ' ' 

"  An'  I  belave,  mum, "  said  the  cook,  "  that 
'twas  the  dhivil,  savin'  yer  prisince;  an', 
saints  presarve  us !  I  've  heerd  at  home  as  how 
he  hated  dese  new  ways  of  cookin',  because 
dheres  no  foine  place  for  him  to  sit  in  the 
corner  of,  bad  luck  to  him !  It  was  the  dhivil, 
sure,  mum.  Did  iver  ye  schmell  the  loike  av 
that?" 

Mrs.  Burton  snuffed  the  air,  and  in  spite  of 
the  loathsome  odor  of  burning  grease  she  de 
tected  a  strong  sulphurous  odor. 

"  An'  he  went  and  tookted  my  last  bun  wif 
him  too,"  complained  Toddie,  who  had  been 
cautiously  approaching  the  oven  in  which  he 
had  placed  his  pan.  "Bad  ole  debbil!  I 
fought  he  didn't  have  noffin  but  roasted 
peoples  at  hizh  tea-parties!" 

The  whole  party  was  too  much  agitated 
and  mystified  to  pursue  their  investigations 
further.  The  fire  was  allowed  to  die  out  and 
Mrs.  Burton  hurried  upstairs  and  to  the  front 
of  the  house  with  the  children. 

Mr.  Burton  on  his  way  home  was  met  by 
his  wife  and  nephews,  and  heard  a  tale  which 
had  reached  blood-curdling  proportions.  His 


248     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

descent  to  the  scene  of  the  disaster  was  re 
luctantly  consented  to  by  his  wife;  but  he 
was  unable  to  discover  the  cause  of  the  acci 
dent,  and  he  succeeded  in  getting  his  hands 
shockingly  dirty.  He  hurried  to  his  bed 
chamber  to  wash  them,  and  in  a  moment  he 
roared  from  the  head  of  the  stairs : 

"  Boys,  which  of  you  has  been  up  here  to 
day?" 

There  was  no  response  for  a  moment ;  then 
Budge  shouted: 

"Not  me." 

Mrs.  Burton  looked  inquiringly  at  Toddie, 
and  the  young  gentleman  averted  his  eyes. 
Then  Mr.  Burton  hurried  downstairs,  looked 
at  both  boys  and  asked :  "  Why  did  you  med 
dle  with  my  powder-flask,  Toddie?" 

"  Why— why — why,  Aunt  Alice  wouldn't 
put  no  powder  in  my  buns  to  make  'em  light 
after  I  rolled  'em  heavy — said  'twouldn't  do 
'em  no  good.  But  my  papa  says  'tain't 
never  no  harm  to  try,  so  I  dzust  wented  and 
gotted  some  powder  out  of  your  brass  bottle 
dat's  hanging  on  your  gun,  an'  I  didn't  say 
nuffin'  to  nobody,  'cauzh  I  wanted  to  s 'prise 
'em.  An'  while  I  was  wait  in'  for  it  to  get 
done,  bad  ole  debbil  came  an'  hookted  it. 
Guesh  it  must  have  been  real  good  else  he 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    249 

wouldn't  have  done  it,  'cauzh  he's  such  a 
smart  fief  he  can  steal  de  nicest  fings  he 
wantsh — whole  cakeshop  windows  full." 

"How  did  you  mix  it  with  the  dough?— 
how  much  did  you  take?"  Mrs.  Burton  de 
manded. 

"  Didn't  mix  it  at  all,"  said  Toddie;  "  dzush 
pourded  it  on  de  pan  azh  full  azh  I  could. 
You'd  fink  I'd  have  to,  if  you  tried  to  eat  one 
of  my  buns  dat  didn't  have  no  powder  in. 
Gwacious!  wasn't  dey  hard?  I  couldn't 
bite  'em  a  bit — I  dzust  had  to  swallow  'em 
whole." 

"  Umph ! ' '  growled  Mr.  Burton.  "  And  do 
you  know  who  the  devil — the  little  devil  was 
that- 

"  Harry!" 

"  Well,  my  dear,  the  truth  appears  to  be 
this ;  your  nephew— 

"Your  nephew,  Mr.  Burton." 

"  Well,  my — our  nephew,  put  into  the  oven 
this  afternoon  about  enough  of  gunpowder 
to  charge  a  six-pounder  shell,  and  the  heat  of 
the  oven  gradually  became  too  much  for  it." 

Toddie  had  listened  to  this  conversation 
with  an  air  of  anxious  inquiry,  and  at  last 
timidly  asked: 

"  Wazhn't  it  de  right  kind  of  powder?     I 


25o     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

fought  it  wazh,  'cauzh  it  makes  everyfing  else 
light  when  it  goezh  off." 

"  Do  you  suppose  your  method  of  training 
will  ever  prevail  against  that  boy's  logic,  my 
dear?"  asked  Mrs.  Burton.  "  And  if  it  won't, 
what  will?" 

"  I  won't  put  so  much  in  nexsht  time, "  said 
Toddie,  "  'cauzh  'tain't  no  good  to  twy  a  ring 
an'  den  have  de  try  in'  stuff  go  an'  take  de 
fing  all  away  from  you  an'  get  so  mad  as  to 
bweak  stoves  to  bits  an'  scare  little  boysh 
an'  Aunt  Alishes  'most  to  deff." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    251 


CHAPTER   IX 

OW,  ow,  OW!"  was  the  reveille  of  the 
Burton  family  on  the  next  morning, 
and  it  was  sounded  from  the  room  of  the 
juvenile  guests. 

"Another  fight,  I  suppose,"  grunted  Mr. 
Burton  in  his  room,  "and  as  I'm  dressed  I 
might  as  well  go  and  see  which  one  was 
whipped  and  which  ought  to  be." 

Arrived  at  his  nephew's  room,  Mr.  Burton 
found  Toddie  curled  up  in  the  middle  of  the 
bed  sound  asleep,  and  his  brother  with  his 
eyes  shut,  but  wriggling  restlessly. 

"What's  the  matter,  Budge?"  asked  Mr. 
Burton. 

"  My  side  hurts,  where  I  bunked  it,  stoppin' 
in  the  gutter,  when  I  slid  down  the  mountain, ' ' 
drawled  Budge.  "An'  the  hard  part  of  the 
bed  comes  up  to  it  and  hurts  it.  As  soon  as  I 
find  a  soft  part  of  the  bed,  the  hard  part  be 
gins  to  come  up  through  it  and  hurt  me." 

"  Suppose  you  were  to  turn  and  lie  on  the 
other  side?" 

"I  —  why  —  I  —  then  -  -  I—  stammered 
Budge,  arising  slowly  and  rubbing  his  eyes, 


252     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"then  I  wouldn't  have  any  soft  parts  to  look 
for,  an'  I  wouldn't  have  anythin'  to  do." 

"Oh,  no,"  Mr.  Burton  muttered,  turning 
abruptly  and  quitting  the  room;  "  the  faculty 
for  hugging  misery  isn't  born  in  people;  not 
at  all!  I'll  have  to  tell  this  to  our  parson.  A 
lot  of  good  people  that  need  it  might  get  a 
sound  thrashing  over  somebody  else's  shoul 
ders." 

At  the  breakfast  table  Budge  ate  quietly, 
but  with  characteristic  American  industry, 
before  he  said: 

"Aunt  Alice,  too  much  tea  isn't  good  for 
people,  is  it?" 

"Oh,  no!     It's  very  bad." 

"And  one  cup  is  enough  for  pretty  much 
every  one,  isn't  it?" 

"I  think  so." 

"  Sometimes  my  papa  drinks  three  or  four. " 

"That  must  be  when  he  has  a  headache." 

"Oh,  yes,  'tis.  People  need  more  then, 
don't  they?" 

"Yes,  indeed!" 

"  Well,  don't  you  think  a  sideache  is  as  bad 
as  a  headache  ? ' ' 

Mrs.  Burton  guessed  the  sequel,  but  re 
frained  from  replying. 

"An  awful  sideache,"   Budge  continued, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    253 

"when  a  little  boy's  side  has  been  bumped 
real  hard  by  a  great  big  mountain  side." 

Mrs.  Burton  bit  her  upper  lip  and  reached 
for  Budge's  mug,  which  the  young  man  ac 
commodatingly  pushed  toward  her,  saying: 

"And  I  think  when  it's  a  little  boy  that's 
got  to  drink  it  'cause  he's  sick,  there  ought  to 
be  lots  an'  lots  of  sugar 
in  it,  to  keep  it  from  be 
ing  too  strong." 

Budge's 
mug  was 
filled  ac 
cording  to 
his  liking, 

Mr.  Burton's  eyes  danc 
ing  over  it  so  busily 
that  they  could  not 
.stop  when  Mrs.  Burton 
accidentally  detected 
them.  A  few  moments  "T0°  MUCH  TEA  ISN'T  GOOD 

FOR  PEOPLE,   IS  IT? 

of  adult  silence  was  the 

natural  result,  and  the  boys  improved  the 
opportunity  to  disappear  without  being 
questioned ;  after  which  Mr.  Burton,  starting 
for  the  city,  gave  shortly  the  monosyllable 
"No!"  in  reply  to  the  question  whether  he 
should  bring  anything  home. 


254     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

Mrs.  Burton  found  herself  soon  in  the  depth 
of  another  inspection  of  her  career  as  a  man 
ager  of  children,  and  began  to  realize  that 
she  was  as  faulty  in  being  too  indulgent  as 
she  was  in  being  too  severe.  Recalling  the 
many  tricks  of  the  children  to  overcome  her 
rules,  she  could  not  remember  a  single  one  at 
which  they  had  not  succeeded,  and  the  reali 
zation  of  this  was  as  mortifying  to  her  sense 
of  duty  as  it  was  to  her  pride.  To  be  firm 
when  her  sense  of  humor  was  touched  was  a 
phase  of  ability  of  which  she  found  herself  to 
be  as  destitute  as  people  usually  are ;  but  the 
existence  of  such  a  failing  she  had  never  even 
imagined  before,  and  it  doubled  her  sense  of 
responsibility  and — humility. 

But  the  latter  quality  soon  was  lost  in  one 
which  comes  more  naturally,  and  is  always 
fully  developed -- pride.  What  wouldn't 
she  have  given  to  have  that  breakfast-scene 
to  manage  again?  To  think  that  she,  who 
had  in  every  other  department  of  life,  dis 
cerned  sly  attempts  afar  off,  and  successfully 
circumvented  them,  should  have  been  out 
witted  by  two  very  small  boys !  Oh,  for  just 
one  more  attempt  by  either  of  them!  Mrs. 
Burton  instinctively  bit  her  lip  until  pain 
caused  her  to  stop.  Upon  this,  at  any  rate, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    255 

she  was  determined — she  would  not  only  pre 
vent  her  nephews  accomplishing  their  art 
fully  laid  purposes,  but  she  would  explain  to 
them  how  dishonest  such  attempts  were,  and 
endeavor  to  shame  them  into  ingenuousness. 

At  this  instant  the  sound  of  a  wordy  alter 
cation,  momentarily  growing  livelier,  floated 
up  from  the  kitchen  windows,  and  Mrs.  Bur 
ton  started  to  act  as  arbitrator. 

"We  want  it.  That's  why,"  was  heard 
from  Budge,  as  Mrs.  Burton  entered  the 
kitchen. 

"Want  what?"  asked  the  mistress  of  the 
house. 

"  Why,"  said  Budge,  his  face  lighting  with 
the  anticipation  of  assistance  close  at  hand, 
"we've  found  a  big  nest  full  of  eggs  in  the 
grass,  a  good  way  off,  an'  we  want  to  boil  'em 
and  eat  'em,  and  I've  asked  Bridget  over  an' 
over  again  for  a  pail  to  boil  'em  in,  and  all  she 
says  is,  '  Niver  a  bit." 

"Which  she  is  perfectly  right  in  saying," 
said  Mrs.  Burton,  "when,  as  I  assume  from 
what  I  overheard  as  I  came  in,  you  did  not 
tell  her  what  you  wanted  of  the  pail." 

"Well,  I  couldn't  help  remembering  what 
you  said  to  Uncle  Harry  the  other  evening— 
that  you  had  the  most  utter  contempt  for 


256     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

people  that  always  wanted  to  know  about 
other  people's  business.  I  don't  know  what 
'  utter  contempt '  means,  but  I  thought,  from 
the  way  you  said  it,  you  meant  folks  who  was 
always  askin'  questions  about  what  other 
folks  was  doin'. " 

Mrs.  Burton  hastily  took  a  small  pail  from 
a  shelf  and  gave  it  to  Budge,  who  walked  off 
while  his  aunt,  recollecting  her  good  resolu 
tions,  retired  and  wept  despairingly.  The 
idea  of  letting  two  small  children  eat  a  lot  of 
eggs  between  meals!  No  one  knew  where 
they  were  or  how  many  eggs  they  had ;  prob 
ably  they  had  built  a  fire  where  no  fire  should 
be,  and  what  damage  they  were  threatening 
to  property  and  life  only  Heaven  knew.  She 
wished  herself  within  the  councils  of  Heaven ; 
she  committed  a  dozen  frightful  heresies 
while  she  wondered,  but  came  back  by  neces 
sity  to  the  virtue  of  resignation,  for  how  to 
find  her  nephews  would  have  puzzled  a  head 
more  experienced  than  her  own  in  the  ways 
of  small  boys. 

Her  morning  was  spent  in  vague  attempts 
to  do  something,  and  it  was  with  satisfaction 
that  she  beheld  her  two  nephews  approach 
ing  by  a  road  which  led  through  woods  and 
fields.  The  borrowed  pail  was  not  visible, 


'WHEN  WE  COOKED  'EM,  WHAT  DO  YOU  THINK?" 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   257 

but  Mrs.  Burton  did  not  notice  its  absence. 
Toddie  dropped  dejectedly  upon  a  large 
stone  in  the  back  yard,  and  Budge  sauntered 
into  the  sitting-room  with  the  air  of  a  man  of 
the  world  who  had  squeezed  life's  orange  and 
found  it  juiceless. 

"  You're  safely  back,  are  you? "  asked  Mrs. 
Burton,  anxious  to  know  what  had  hap 
pened,  but  fearing  to  ask. 

"  Oh,  yes,  we're  back,  but  that  don't  do  us 
any  good." 

"  Why,  what  can  be  the  matter  with  my 
dear  little  Budge?" 

"A  good  deal,"  sighed  Budge.  "There's 
some  awful  funny  things  in  this  world,  Aunt 
Alice,  an'  they  ain't  nice  either." 

"Tell  me  all  about  them,  dear." 

"  Well,  I  was  awful  disappointed  to-day. 
We  found  sixteen  eggs  in  a  nest,  an'  I  came 
all  the  way  home  to  get  somethin'  to  cook  'em 
in,  an'  I  carried  some  salt  an'  pepper  with 
me  to  help  'em  to  taste  nice,  an'  when  we 
cooked  'em,  what  do  you  think?  There  was 
a  little  chicken  inside  of  each  of  'em ! ' ' 

"  Dis — gusting!"  exclaimed  Mrs.   Burton. 

"I  know  it  is,"  said  Budge;  "an'  I  guess 
you'd  have  thought  so  more  yet  if  you'd  been 
there  when  we  opened  'em.  You  know  how 


258     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

nice  eggs  smell  when  you  open  'em?  Well, 
those  eggs  didn't  even  smell  good  a  bit." 

"  Let's  talk  of  something  else,  Budge, "  said 
Mrs.  Burton,  instinctively  raising  her  hand 
kerchief  to  her  nose. 

"  But  I  ain't  through  yet,"  said  Budge.  "  I 
want  to  know  why  the  little  chickens  didn't 
come  out  of  their  shell  to  their  mamma,  in 
stead  of  waiting  to  bother  us  ? " 

"  Because  you  scared  their  mamma  away 
from  them,  I  suppose,  when  you  found  the 
nest." 

"  Why,  no,  we  didn't.  She  just  went  away. 
We  said  'Chick,  chick,  chick!'  to  her,  an'  she 
just  ran  around  an'  cackled,  so  we  s 'posed 
she'd  got  through  with  the  nest,  and  we  took 
what  was  in  it  to  keep  'em  from  bein'  spoiled. 
Papa  says  eggs  always  spoil  when  they  lie  out 
in  the  sunshine.  What  do  you  s'pose  that 
poor  hen  mamma '11  think  when  she  comes 
walkin'  along  that  way  some  day  an'  sees 
all  her  dear  little  children  lyin'  around 
mussed  up  in  the  grass  ? ' ' 

"  She  will  probably  think  that  some  meddle 
some  little  boys  have  been  along  that  way, 
and  haven't  cared  for  anything  or  anybody 
but  themselves." 

Budge  looked  up  quickly  into  his  aunt's 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   259 

face,  but  finding  neither  humor  nor  sym 
pathy  there  he  sighed  deeply  and  started  to 
rejoin  his  brother. 

"  Budge!"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 

The  child  arrested  his  steps,  and  looked 
back  inquiringly. 

"  When  you  want  anything,  as,  for  instance, 
that  pail  to  boil  eggs  in,  the  proper  way  to  do 
is  to  ask  for  it  honestly  and  if  some  grown 
person  ref vises  to  give  it  to  you,  you  should  be 
satisfied  with  the  reasons  they  give  and  make 
no  trouble  about  it.  You  ought  to  love 
what  is  right  so  much  that  you  will  be 
ashamed  to  get  around  it  in  some  underhand 
way." 

"Why,  'tain't  any  underhand  way  to  say 
just  what  I  think,  is  it  ? "  Budge  asked.  "  Papa 
says  folks  ought  always  to  be  honest,  and  say 
just  exactly  what  they  mean,  an'  I'm  sure  I 
always  do  it,  but  I  like  to  say  things  the  way 
that  I  think  folks  listen  to  'em  best.  Ain't 
that  the  way  that  you  do?" 

Mrs.  Burton  could  not  say  "No,"  and 
would  not  say  "  Yes,"  so  she  walked  off  and 
left  her  nephew  master  of  the  field,  from 
which  he  himself  soon  retired  in  response  to 
repeated  shouts  of  "Budgie!"  from  his 
brother. 


260     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Oh,  Budgie,"  exclaimed  Toddie,  as  the 
former  rejoined  him,  "izhe  got  him!  Oh, 
izhe  got  him !  Ain't  you  glad  ? ' ' 

"Who  you  got?" 

"Got  Terry!"  exclaimed  Toddie.  "Got 
doggie  Terry ! ' ' 

"  Ow!"  shouted  Budge,  clapping  his  hands 
and  dancing  about.  "That's  the  nicest  thing 
I  ever  heard  of!  Just  won't  we  have  fun? 
How  did  you  catch  him?" 

"  Why,  he  wazh  asleep,  an'  I  dzust  tied  a 
skring  to  his  collar,  an'  tied  de  uvver  end  to 
a  little  tree,  an'  dere  he  is.  See  him?" 

The  brothers  moved  towards  the  dog;  the 
doomed  animal,  after  one  frantic  tug  at  his 
bonds,  recognized  the  inevitable  and  shrank 
whimperingly  against  the  tree. 

"Poor  doggie's  sick,  Tod,"  said  Budge. 
"  We'll  have  to  play  doctor  to  him  an'  make 
him  well.  I  think  he  ought  to  go  to  bed, 
don't  you?" 

"Yesh,"  said  Toddie,  "an'  have  a  night 
gown  on,  like  we  do  when  we's  sick." 

"  That's  so.  You  run  an'  get  yours  for 
him.  He  needs  a  little  one,  you  know.  I 
guess  you'd  better  take  off  your  shoes,  so's 
not  to  disturb  Aunt  Alice." 

Toddie  cast  his  shoes  and  vanished,   re- 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    261 

turning  speedily  with  a  robe  in  which  the 
dog  Terry,  not  without  much  remonstrance, 
was  soon  enveloped ;  after  which  Budge  lifted 
him  tenderly  in  his  arms,  saying,— 

"His  night-gown  hangs  down  an  awful  lot, 
I  think.  We'd  better  pin  up  the  bottom 
part,  like  nurse  did  for  the  sister-baby  the 
other  day." 

"Hazhn't  got  no  pins,"  said  Toddie. 

"Then  we'll  tie  it  up  with  a  string.  Be 
sides,  when  it's  tied  up  he  can't  get  his  foots 
out,  an'  forget  what  a  poor  little  sick  doggie 
he  is." 

In  another  moment  the  superabundant 
skirts  were  folded  up  and  tied  tightly  around 
the  poor  animal's  body,  while  Toddie,  who 
was  having  great  trouble  to  hold  the  stout 
little  beast,  exclaimed: 

"  Gwacious!  the  fwont  end  of  him  is  awful 
well!  See  how  it  keeps  not  keepin'  still.  I 
don't  fink  his  night-gown  collar  looksh  very 
nysh,  does  you?" 

"  No,"  said  Budge,  "  and  he'll  go  right  out 
of  it  if  we  don't  make  it  look  nicer.  I'll  put 
string  around  that  too — there!  I  want  to 
know  if  anybody  ever  saw  a  lovelier-lookin' 
sick  dog  than  that  ?  Where '11  we  put  him  to 
bed  now?" 


262     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Let's  wock  him,"  Toddie  suggested. 
"Datsh  what  we  likes  when  we's  sick." 

;'Then  we  got  to  take  him  in  the  house," 
said  Budge,  "  'cause  there  ain't  any  way  of 
makin'  believe  rockin '-chair.  Come  on!" 

Quietly  the  couple  sneaked  into  the  house 
and  up  to  their  room.  Then  Budgie  resigned 
his  precious  burden  a  moment  to  Toddie 's 
care  while  he  went  in  search  of  a  rocking- 
chair,  with  which  he  shortly  returned. 

"There!"  said  he,  taking  the  invalid  and 
seating  himself,  "this  is  something  like  play- 
in'  doctor.  But  I  wonder  what  kind  of  medi 
cine  he  ought  to  have? — pills  or  powders?" 

"Or  running  stuff  out  of  a  bottle?"  sug 
gested  Toddie. 

"That's  so,"  said  Budge.  "I  guess  it 
'pends  on  what  kind  of  medicine  we've  got. 
We  might  make  him  some  nice  pills  out  of 
soap." 

"I  know,"  said  Toddie,  going  into  the 
closet,  bringing  from  a  corner  an  old  winter 
cloak  trimmed  with  beads,  and  picking  some 
of  the  beads  from  it;  "these  is  splendid  for 
pills.  I  took  some  of  'em  de  uvver  day  when 
I  wazsh  play  in'  doctor  an'  sick  boy  too,  an' 
dey  didn't  taste  bad  a  bit." 

"All  right,"  said  Budge,  "pick  some  off." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   263 

His  order  was  obeyed,  and  soon  the  beads 
were  being  carefully  dropped,  one  by  one, 
down  the  dog's  throat,  Budge  opening  the 
animal's  mouth  with  finger  and  thumb  as  he 
had  seen  his  father  do.  Soon,  however,  the 
dog's  jaws  closed  tightly. 

"  I  want  to  make  him  well,"  said  Toddie. 
"  I  ain't  doctored  him  a  bit  yet." 

"  Well,  I  hardly  know  what  you  can  do  for 
him,"  said  Budge,  "for  he  won't  take  any 
more  pills.  Perhaps  there's  a  sore  place  on 
his  head  somewhere  that  you  might  put  a 
stickin '-plaster  on;  but  you  haven't  got  any 
plaster.  Oh,  I  '11  tell  you  what ;  you  can  get  a 
postage-stamp  out  of  Uncle  Harry's  desk— 
that'll  do  for  a  stickin '-plaster  first-rate." 

"I  wantsh  to  wock  him,"  said  Toddie, 
'  'sides  doct'rin'  him." 

"I'm  afraid  't won't  be  best  to  move  him 
just  now,"  said  Budge,  scanning  the  face  of 
the  patient  with  solicitude. 

"I  tell  you  what,"  said  Toddie,  with  the 
air  of  a  man  to  whom  had  come  a  direct  in 
spiration  "  letsh  stop  makin'  b'lieve  for  a 
minute,  till  I  get  hold  of  him;  den  he  can  be 
made  into  a  sick  boy  again." 

"All  right,"  said  Budge,  though  evidently 
against  his  will.  "I  s'pose  I've  got  to,  so 


264     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

that  all  the  doctors  get  a  chance  at  him.  But 
say,  papa  says,  mixin'  doctors  kills  sick  folks. 
Don't  you  think  we'd  better  talk  it  all 
over  again?  Twould  be  dreadful  if  Uncle 
Harry's  dear  little  dog  was  made  dead,  you 
know." 

"  All  right,"  said  Toddie,  "  an'  I'll  hold  him 
while  we  talk  about  it.  I  won't  give  him  a 
single  bittie  of  medshin  'til  wre  know  dzust 
what  he  ought  to  have." 

"  Mebbe  different  people's  arms  make  a 
difference  to  sick  folks,"  suggested  Budge, 
holding  the  patient  still  more  tenderly,  and 
oblivious  to  Toddie 's  outstretched  arms. 

"  Dzust  see  how  sad  he  looks  at  you!''  said 
Toddie.  "  I  fink  his  eyes  is  a-sayin',  '  Oh,  I'll 
die  if  dat  dear  Doctor  Toddie  don't  nurse  me. ' 
I  shouldn't  fink  you  could  be  so  dreadful 
cruel,  Budgie." 

Budge  reluctantly  relinquished  the  pa 
tient,  on  whom  Toddie  bestowed  a  squeeze 
so  affectionate  that  the  dog  howled  piteously, 
and  struggled  to  free  himself. 

"  There ! ' '  said  Budge,  "  what  did  I  tell  you 
You're  the  kind  of  doctor  that  don't  agree 
with  him,  you  see." 

'Tain't  me,"  said  Toddie.     "I  guesh  it's 
de  medshin  takin'  effec'.     Dem  beads — pills, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   265 


I  mean — can't  get  into  his  bonesh  an'  mushels 
wifout  skwatchin'  him." 

"I  'spect  that's  'cause  we  forgot  to  give 
'em  to  him  in  somethin'  nice,  like  papa  gives 

us  our  medicine." 
"Letsh  give  him 
somefin'  nysh 
now !"  said  Toddie, 
"Mebbeit  can  find 


BUDGE  AND  TODDIE  PLAYING  DOCTOR 

de  medshin,  an'  dey'll  go  along  nysh  togev- 
ver,  dzust  like  two  little  budders." 

"All  right.     What '11  it  be?" 

"Cake." 

"Who'll  ask  Aunt  Alice  for  it?"  Budge 


266     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

asked.  "I  guess  you'd  better;  I  did,  last 
time  we  wanted  cake.  Anyhow,  I  was  getting 
it  without  askin',  an'  I  promised  her  I'd  al 
ways  ask  after  that." 

"  Den  you  ought  to  begin,  right  stwaight 
away,"  said  Toddie,  "elsh  mebbe  you'd  for 
get.     I  know  what  you  wantsh !     You  wants 
me  to  ask  so's  you  can  get  poor  sick  baby 
again  while  I  go." 

"Well,"  said  Budge,  somewhat  abashed, 
"  I  suppose  I'll  have  to  do  it." 

He  departed,  and  returned  within  two  or 
three  minutes  with  a  large  piece  of  fruit  cake 
and  a  radiant  countenance. 

"  I  tell  you,  Tod,  just  don't  folks  get  paid 
for  bein'  good?  I  was  going  down  to  ask 
Aunt  Alice,  just  as  good  as  could  be,  and  then 
I  couldn't  find  her  anywhere  in  the  house,  so 
there  wasn't  anythin'  to  do  but  go  get  the 
cake  myself.  I  don't  believe  we'd  have  got 
such  a  big  piece,  either,  if  she'd  been  there; 
now  I  know  what  that  big  thing  on  the  Sun 
day-school  wall  means,  'Wirtue  is  its  own 
reward." 

"Gwacious  Peter!"  exclaimed  Toddie,  ex 
tending  his  hand  for  the  cake;  "we  dassent 
give  him  all  dat !  'Twould  make  him  dweam 
dweadful  fings."  Here  Toddie  put  the  cake 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    267 

to  the  dog's  mouth,  and  the  animal  eagerly 
bit  at  it.  "Goodnish!  I  forgot  dat  dogs 
could  open  moufs  bigger  dan  babies.  I  fink 
he's  got  more  now  dan's  going  to  agree  wif 
him.  G'way! "  continued  Toddie,  as  the  dog 
again  snapped  at  the  cake.  "We's  got  to 
put  dis  where  he  can't  see  it,  'less  he'll  be 
cryin'  for  it  all  de  time."  And  Toddie  hastily 
crowded  a  large  portion  of  the  remainder  into 
his  own  mouth. 

"Oh — h — h!"  exclaimed   Budge,   moving 

to  the  rescue  of  the  remainder  of  the  cake. 

'  You   ain't    took   no    medicine,    an'    you'll 

dream  of  more  cows  than  you  ever  saw. 

Give  me  it ! " 

' '  Um — m — m — ugh — mow — moo — um— 
guh!"  mumbled  Toddie  with  difficulty,  as  he 
tightened  his  grasp  on  the  remainder  of  the 
cake. 

"  Oh,  give  it  to  me,  Tod!"  pleaded  Budge. 
"I'll  eat  it,  and  then  I'll  dream  'bout  the 
same  cows  that  you  do.  Don't  you  know 
how  often  you  wish  I  'd  dream  the  same  things 
you  do,  and  get  mad  'cause  I  don't?" 

Toddie  indulged  in  some  spasmodic  final 
gulps,  coughed  violently,  and  said: 

"It's  dwefful  to  dweam  about  cows,  an'  I 
loves  you,  'cauzh  you's  my  dee  budder 


268     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

Budgie,  an'  I  don't  want  you  to  dweam  dwef- 
ful  lings."  Here  Toddie  hastily  crammed 
most  of  the  remainder  of  the  cake  into  his 
mouth,  and  handed  the  rest  to  his  brother, 
saying : 

'That'll  make — you — dweam  'bout  two 
or— or  free  cows,  an'  so  it'll  let  you  get  into 
de  dweam  wifout  such  drefful  times  as  Izh 
got  to  have." 

Budge  might,  perhaps,  have  recognized  in 
fitting  terms  this  evidence  of  brotherly  fore 
thought,  but  his  mouth  found  other  occupa 
tion  for  a  moment.  Meanwhile,  the  patient 
was  wriggling ;  by  a  desperate  effort  he  freed 
himself  from  Toddie 's  embrace,  and  fell  upon 
the  floor,  where  he  rolled  frantically  about 
with  many  contortions  and  howls. 

'Oh,  he's  got  a  convulsion!  I  guess  he 
must  be  havin'  a  stomach  tooth  come,"  said 
Budge.  "What  can  we  do?" 

"  Pallygollic, "  Toddie  suggested. 

"We  ain't  got  none,"  said  Budge.  'Tell 
you  what.  Let's  make  b'lieve  he's  a  dog  a 
minute,  an'  throw  water  on  him  That's 
what  they  do  to  dogs  in  fits." 

"  Den  we'd  get  Aunt  Alice's  new  carpet  all 
wet,"  said  Toddie.  "Let's  put  him  in  de 
bafftub." 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   269 

:'Just  the  thing!"  said  Budge,  picking  up 
the  animal  while  Toddie  ran  before  and 
turned  on  the  water.  The  dog  was  dropped 
into  the  tub,  where  he  naturally  redoubled 
his  efforts  to  free  himself;  noting  which, 
Budge  remarked : 

"  Say,  Tod,  it's  hot  water  they  set  babies  in 
when  the  tooths  bother  'em.  We'll  make 
b'lieve  he's  a  baby  again,  and  turn  on  t'other 
faucet." 

Toddie  quickly  opened  the  hot-water 
faucet. 

"There — he's  gettin'  better,"  said  Budge, 
observing  the  animal  with  professional  close 
ness.  "  I  guess  he  can  come  out  now.  OW! 
—that  water's  awful  hot !  How  are  we  goin' 
to  get  him  out?" 

Toddie  leaned  over  the  edge  of  the  tub  and 
seized  the  dog  by  the  head.  The  animal 
struggled  violently.  Toddie  redoubled  his 
exertions,  lost  his  balance,  and  tumbled 
headlong  into  the  tub  himself,  from  which  he 
speedily  scrambled,  howling  violently,  while 
Budge  snatched  the  animal  and  landed  him 
on  the  bathroom  floor. 

"Oh,  de— oh!"  cried  Toddie. 

"  Does  it  hurt  you  awful,  dear  little 
brother  ? ' '  asked  Budge  tenderly. 


27o     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"No!  De  hurtzh  gone  off  of  me,  but  I 
gotted  a  lot  of  water  in  my  mouf,  and  it 
washed  out  all  de  taste  of  de  cake.  I  fink  it's 
too  good-for-nuffin  mean  for  anyfing." 

"Well,  I  guess  you'd  better  go  sit  out  in 
the  sun  and  dry  yourself,"  said  Budge,  "and 
change  the  poor  doggie's  clothes  for  him." 

"  Wantsh  my  clozhezh  tschanged,"  sobbed 
Toddie. 

"Come  on,  then,"  said  Budge,  leading  the 
way  back  to  his  own  room,  and  dragging  the 
bundle  of  wet  dog  behind  him.  ;t There!" 
said  he,  closing  the  door,  "  you  dress  yourself 
and  I'll  fix  the  dog." 

Carefully  untying  the  strings  that  confined 
the  animal,  but  taking  the  precaution  to  tie 
one  end  to  Terry's  collar  and  the  other  to  a 
chair,  he  removed  the  night-gown,  brought  a 
brush,  comb,  and  bottle  of  cologne  from  his 
aunt's  room,  and  began  to  brush  the  dog's 
coat,  pouring  on  cologne  without  stint.  The 
animal  was  too  grateful  to  be  on  his  feet  again 
to  offer  any  serious  remonstrance,  until  sud 
denly  Budge  poured  considerable  cologne 
upon  his  head ;  the  liquid  found  its  way  into 
Terry's  eyes,  and  the  spirits  put  the  brute  in 
such  pain  that  he  began  to  dash  frantically 
about  the  room,  dragging  the  light  chair 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY 


271 


after  him.  Budge  had  left  the  door  open, 
and  through  this  dashed  Terry,  and  down  the 
stairs.  The  top  of  the  chair  struck  the  stair- 
rail,  and  at  once  resolved  itself  into  its  original 
parts;  the  remainder  flew 
down  the  steps  after  the 
dog,  and  executed  a 
rapid  semicircle  in 
air  in  the  lower 
hall  as  the  dog 
flew  around 
the  newel 
post  and 


DOWN  THE  STAIRS,  DASHED  TERRY 

encountered  a  handsome  cabinet  hat-rack  on 
the  way,  to  the  great  damage  of  the  polish. 
Then,  still  obeying  the  inexorable  demands 
of  the  string,  whose  other  end  was  attached 


2 72     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

to  the  collar  of  the  dog,  it  meandered  through 
the  parlor,  leaving  a  leg  with  the  piano  pedal 
as  a  memento  of  a  trifling  difference,  at 
tempted  to  ascend  the  chimney  through  the 
fireplace  but  succeeded  only  so  far  as  to  seri 
ously  compromise  the  positions  of  the  and 
irons,  lodged  between  the  legs  of  an  antique 
table  to  the  complete  prostration  of  the  table 
itself,  and  leaving  the  seat  of  the  chair  among 
the  table's  varied  contents,  struck  a  jardi 
niere,  which  came  down  with  a  ceramic  crash, 
flew  to  the  dining-room,  into  a  chair,  upon 
and  across  the  table,  taking  with  it  a  cover 
with  which  for  a  moment  or  two  it  was  seri 
ously  mixed,  and  went  down  the  kitchen 
stairs,  where  it  met  Mrs.  Burton  returning 
from  a  conference  with  the  greengrocer.  As 
the  chair  was  one  of  special  lightness  and  ex 
ceeding  cost,  Mrs.  Burton  was  naturally  de 
sirous  of  interviewing  Terry;  but  the  animal 
had  evidently  formed  plans  which  he  did  not 
intend  should  be  thwarted,  so  with  a  vicious 
snap  he  eluded  her,  dashed  through  the 
kitchen  and  sought  the  shady  solitude  of  the 
forest. 

Intuition  and  experience  combined  to  sug 
gest  to  Mrs.  Burton  the  original  causes  of 
Terry's  excitement;  so,  waiting  only  a  few 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    273 

moments,  that  she  might  be  perfectly  calm 
and  righteously  judicial,  she  started  in  search 
of  the  culprits.  They  were  not  in  their  room, 
though  a  heap  of  wet  clothes  and  a  general 
displacement  of  everything  proved  that  they 
had  been  there  since  the  chambermaid  had 
put  the  room  in  order.  A  further  search  dis 
closed  Toddie  upon  Mrs.  Burton's  own  bed, 
so  soundly  asleep  that  she  had  not  the  heart 
to  wake  him.  Promptly  assuming  that 
Budge  was  the  only  culprit,  she  continued 
her  search,  and  found  him  leaning  out  of  a 
window  in  a  little  observatory  on  the  top  of 
the  house.  The  rustle  of  his  aunt's  dress 
aroused  him,  and,  bending  upon  her  a  look  of 
exquisite  yet  melancholy  sensitiveness,  he 
said: 

"Aunt  Alice,  everybody  must  die,  mustn't 
they?" 

:'Yes,"  replied  Mrs.  Burton,  "and  if  you 
had  paid  the  debt  of  nature  before  destroying 
my  pretty  chair  your  earthly  influence  might 
have  been  less  injurious  than  it  has  been  this 
morning." 

"But,  Aunt  Alice,"  said  Budge,  absorbed 
in  his  own  thoughts,  "  do  you  see  that  grave 
yard  way  off  yonder  ?  It 's  awful  full  of  dead 
folks,  ain't  it?" 


274     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  Very, "  said  Mrs.  Burton ;  "  but  what  they 
have  to  do  with  a  ruined  chair  I  am  unable 
to  see." 

"  Well,  what  I  want  to  know,"  said  Budge, 
still  oblivious  to  everything  but  the  matter 
that  was  occupying  his  mind—  "  what  I  want 
to  know  is,  who's  goin'  to  throw  flowers  into 
the  last  man's  grave,  an'  who's  goin'  to  make 
the  hole  that  he's  put  into?  What  if  he 
should  be  me?  I'd  feel  awful  bothered  to 
know  how  I'd  have  any  funeral  at  all.  I 
know  what  I'd  do — I'd  just  pray  the  Lord 
to  take  me  straight  up  to  heaven,  like  he  did 
with  the  good  Elijah.  Say,  Aunt  Alice,  what 
drawed  the  chariot  that  Elijah  went  up  in? 
Did  them  ravens  do  it  that  used  to  bring  him 
his  lunch?" 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "but  no 
chariot  would  ever  have  come  for  him  if  he 
had  been  in  the  habit  of  breaking  up  chairs 
and  tying  pieces  of  them  to  dogs." 

"  Why,"  said  Budge,  beginning  to  compre 
hend  the  drift  of  his  aunt's  remarks,  "  I 
didn't  tie  any  piece  of  any  chair  to  any  dog. 
I  tied  all  of  Terry  to  a  chair,  and  was  bein'  as 
nice  to  him  as  you  ever  was  to  me,  an'  all  of  a 
sudden  he  ran  away  with  the  whole  of  the 
chair.  You  remember  that  story  in  the 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   275 


Bible  about  some  bad  devils  goin'  into  a  lot 
of  pigs  an'  makin'  'em  jump  over  the  side  of  a 
mountain  an'  into  the  ocean?  Well,  I  think 
some  of  them  same  chaps  must  have  got  into 
Terry." 

Mrs.  Burton's  faith  in  this  demonological 
theory  was  not  strong, 
but  she  felt  that  her 
wrath  had  deserted  her, 
so  to  escape  further 


"WHY  AUNT  ALICE!  HOW  DID  YOU  UPSET  THAT  TABLE?" 

humiliation  she  descended  to  the  parlor.  The 
scene  which  presented  itself  to  her  gaze  was 
one  to  which  womanly  language  could  not  do 
justice,  and  her  hurried  attempts  to  repair 


276     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

the  damage  were  not  sufficient  to  prevent  the 
reawakening  of  her  anger.  While  still  in  the 
depths  of  her  indignant  despair,  her  nephew 
Budge  entered  the  room  and  exclaimed 
honestly: 

"  Aunt  Alice,  how  did  you  upset  that  table 
and  break  that  handsome  great  big  vase  of 
make-believe  flowers?" 

Mrs.  Burton  instinctively  rose  to  her  feet, 
assumed  a  conventional  attitude  of  Lady 
Macbeth,  and  shook  a  forefinger  at  Budge  in 
a  menacing  manner  that  caused  the  child  to 
shudder,  as  she  uttered  the  single  word— 

"To-morrow!" 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    277 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  beginning  of  the  end ! ' '  was  the  re 
mark  with  which  Mr.  Burton  broke  a 
short  silence  at  his  breakfast-table,  on  the 
last  day  of  the  time  for  which  his  little  vis 
itors  had  been  invited. 

Mrs.  Burton  looked  meek  and  made  no 
reply. 

"Budders,"  said  Mr.  Burton,  addressing 
his  nephews,  " do  you  feel  reconstructed?" 

"Huh? "asked  Budge. 

"  Do  you  feel  mentally  and  morally  recon 
structed?"  repeated  the  uncle. 

"  Reconwhichted  ? ' '  asked  Budge. 

"That's  an  awful  big  wyde,"  remarked 
Toddie,  through  a  mouthful  of  oatmeal  por 
ridge.  "It's  like  what  the  minister  says  in 
chych  sometimes,  an'  makes  me  want  to 
play  around  in  the  seat." 

"Reconstructed;  made  over  again,"  ex 
plained  Mr.  Burton. 

"Why,  no,"  said  Budge,  after  looking  at 
his  hands  and  feeling  for  his  stomach,  as  if  to 
see  if  any  radical  physical  change  had  taken 
place  without  his  knowledge.  "  Maybe  we're 


278     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

a  little  bigger,  but  we  can't  see  ourselves 
where  we  grow." 

"  Don't  you  feel  as  if  you  wanted  to  see 
that  baby  sister  again?"  asked  Mrs.  Burton, 
endeavoring  to  change  the  subject.  "  Don't 
you  want  to  go  back  to  her  and  stay  all  the 
time?" 

"  I  don't,"  said  Toddie,  "  'cauzh  dere  ain't 
no  dog  at  our  house,  an'  try  in'  to  catch  dogs 
is  fun,  'cept  when  dey  never  want  to  be 
catched  at  all,  like  Terry  is  lotsh  of  de  time." 

"  I  mean,  haven't  you  learned,  since  you've 
been  here,  to  be  a  great  deal  better  than  you 
ever  were  before?"  asked  Mr.  Burton. 

"  I  guesh  so,"  Toddie  replied.  "  I'zhe  said 
more  prayersh  an'  sung  more  little  hymns 
dan  I  ever  did  in  all  my  life  before.  An'  I 
ain't  pulled  off  any  more  hind  hoppers  from 
gwasshoppers  sinsh  Aunt  Alice  told  me  it 
wazh  bad.  I  only  pulls  off  front  hoppers 
now.  Dey'zh  real  little,  you  know — dere's 
only  a  little  bittie  of  'em  to  feel  hurted." 

"How  is  it  with  you,  Budge?"  asked  Mr. 
Burton.  "  Do  you  feel  as  if  you  had  learned 
to  act  from  different  motives." 

"What's  a  motive?"  asked  Budge;  "any- 
thin'  like  a  loco-motive?  I  never  feel  like 
them,  'xcept  when  I  run  pretty  hard ;  then  I 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    279 

puff  like  every  thin',  only  steam  don't  come 
out  of  me,  but  I  always  think  there's  an  en 
gine  inside  of  me,  go  in'  punk!  punk!  like 
everything.  Papa  says  it's  only  a  heart — a 
little  bit  of  a  boy's  heart,  but  if  that's  all,  I 
should  think  a  big  man's  heart  could  pull  a 
whole  train  of  cars." 

;<  You  haven't  learned  to  bear  in  mind  the 
subject  of  conversation.  But  have  you  be 
come  able  to  comprehend  the  inner  signifi 
cance  of  things?" 

'Things  inside  of  us,  do  you  mean?" 

"Like  oatmeal  powwidge?"  Toddie  sug 
gested. 

"  Have  you  realized  that  a  master  mind 
has  been  exerting  a  reformatory  influence 
upon  you?" 

"  Izh  master  mind  an'  '  must  mind '  de 
same  fing?"  asked  Toddie.  "  We  wasn't 
doin'  noffin'  'cept  eatin'  our  brekspups. 
Don't  see  what  we's  got  to  mind  about." 

"  Have  you  always  unhesitatingly  obeyed 
your  aunt's  commands,  moved  thereunto  by 
a  sense  of  her  superiority  by  divine  right  ? ' ' 

"Now,  Harry!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton, 
who  during  this  conversation  had  been  mak 
ing  mute  appeals  which  her  husband  could 
not  have  resisted  had  he  seen  them,  and 


28o     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

knowing  of  the  existence  of  which  he  had 
carefully  kept  his  eyes  averted  from  her 
face. 

"  If  you  don't  stop  tormenting  those  poor 
children  with  stupid  sections  of  dictionary 
you  yourself  shall  realize  my  superiority  by 
divine  right,  for  I'll  take  them  upstairs  and 
away  from  you.*' 

"Only  one  more  question,  my  dear,"  said 
Mr.  Burton,  "and  I'll  have  done.  I  want 
only  to  ask  the  boys  if  they've  noticed  any 
conflicts  of  heredity,  and,  if  so,  which  side 
has  triumphed?" 

"  I  guess  you  are  try  in'  to  play  preacher, 
like  Tod  said,"  remarked  Budge. 

"Oh!"  said  Mr.  Burton,  blushing  a  little 
under  a  merry  laugh  from  his  wife.  "  Well, 
how  does  it  affect  you  ? ' ' 

"  It  makes  me  feel  like  I  do  in  church  when 
I  wish  Sunday-school  time  would  hurry  up," 
said  Budge. 

"Me  too,"  assented  Toddie. 

'You  can  run  away  and  play  now,"  said 
Mrs.  Burton,  seeing  that  the  children's  plates 
were  empty. 

The  boys  departed,  the  dog  Terry  appar 
ently  leading  the  way,  yet  being  invisible 
when  the  children  reached  the  open  air. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    281 

"You  needn't  have  humiliated  me  before 
the  children,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 

Mr.  Burton  hastened  to  make  the  "  amende 
honorable"  peculiar  to  the  conjugal  relation 
and  said: 

"Don't  fear,  my  dear.  They  didn't  un 
derstand." 

"Oh,  didn't  they  ?"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton. 
"  I  wish  all  my  adult  friends  had  as  quick 
perceptions  as  those  boys.  They  may  not 
understand  big  words,  but  tones  and  looks 
are  enough  for  them." 

"Why?"  said  Mr.  Burton,  "they  scarcely 
looked  up  from  their  plates." 

"Never  mind,"  replied  the  lady,  delighted 
at  an  opportunity  to  reassert  her  superiority 
in  at  least  one  particular.  "  Children — boys, 
are  more  like  women  than  like  men.  Their 
unblunted  sensibilities  are  quick;  their  in 
tuition  is  simply  angelic.  Would  that  their 
other  qualities  were  also  so  perfect." 

"I'm  very  sorry,  my  dear,"  said  Mr.  Bur 
ton,  temporarily  subjugated,  "that  I  said  a 
word  to  them,  and  when  you  are  ready  to 
kneel  upon  the  stool  of  repentance  I  '11  depart 
and  leave  you  alone." 

'  You'll  have  no  occasion  to  go,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton.  "I've  confessed  already — to  them, 


282     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

and  a  single  confession  is  enough  I  rather 
like  the  operation,  when,  for  my  reward,  I 
receive  sympathy  instead  of  sarcasm." 

"Again,  I  ask  forgiveness,"  said  Mr.  Bur 
ton;  "and  having  made  a  fellow-penitent  of 
myself,  can't  I  have  good  in  return  for  my 
evil,  and  know  what  a  fellow-sufferer  has 
learned  from  experience?" 

"Just  this,"  said  Mrs.  Burton;  "that  no 
body  is  fit  to  take  the  care  of  children  ex 
cepting  the  children's  own  parents." 

Mr.  Burton  dropped  his  fork  and  exclaimed : 

"  My  dear,  that's  better  than  an  experience. 
It's  a  revelation." 

Mrs.  Burton  regained  her  pleasantness  of 
countenance  and  said: 

"  I  think  that  only  one  of  kindred  blood 
can  comprehend  an  adult— 

"  Unless  modest  enough  to  go  out  of  self 
for  a  little  while,"  suggested  Mr.  Burton. 

Mrs.  Burton  opened  her  eyes  very  wide  and 
dropped  her  lip  a  little,  but  recovered  herself 
to  finish  her  sentence  by  "And  I  think  it  is 
ever  so  much  harder  to  comprehend  children, 
with  their  imperfect  natures  that  never  de 
velop  harmoniously,  and  that  can  but  sel 
dom  express  themselves  intelligently." 

"  I  never  noticed  that  the  boys  were  at  a 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    283 

loss  to  express  themselves,  when  they  wanted 
anything,"  said  Mr.  Burton. 

"That  sounds  just  like  a  man,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton,  fully  herself  again.  "As  if  children 
had  no  desires  and  yearnings  excepting  for 
material  things!  What  do  you  suppose  it 
means  when  Budge  sits  down  in  a  corner,  goes 
into  a  brown  study,  and,  when  asked  what  the 
matter  is,  draw1s  'Nothin'!'  in  a  tone  that 
indicates  that  a  very  considerable  something 
is  puzzling  his  young  head?  What  does  it 
mean  when  Toddie  asks  his  half-funny,  half- 
pathetic  questions  about  matters  too  great 
for  his  comprehension,  and  looks  as  wistful 
as  ever  after  he  is  answered?  Do  you  sup 
pose  they  care  for  nothing  but  food  and 
play?" 

Mr.  Burton  felt  humbled,  and  his  looks 
evinced  the  nature  of  his  feeling. 

:'  You  are  right,  little  woman.  I  wish  I 
might  have  consulted  you  before  I  took  the 
boys  in  hand  last  summer." 

"  And  I'm  very  glad  you  didn't,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton;  "for  you  did  a  great  deal  better 
with  them  than  you  could  have  done  if  I  had 
been  your  adviser.  There  is  some  of  the 
same  blood  in  both  of  you,  and  you  succeeded 
in  many  points  where  I  have  blundered.  Oh, 


284     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

if  I  had  but  known  it  all  before  they  came! 
How  much  I  might  have  spared  them — and 
myself!" 

Mr.  Burton  hastened  to  extend  to  his  wife 
some  mute  sympathy. 

"  They're  going  to-day,"  said  Mrs.  Burton, 
finding  something  in  her  eyes  that  required 
the  attention  of  her  kerchief—  '  just  as  I've 
learned  what  I  should  be  to  them!  They're 
angels,  in  spite  of  their  pranks,  and  it's  al 
ways  so  with  angels'  visits;  one  never  dis 
covers  what  they  are  until  they  spread  their 
wings  to  depart." 

'  This  particular  pair  of  angels  can  be  bor 
rowed  for  an  extra  day,  I  suppose,  if  you  de 
sire  it!"  suggested  Mr.  Burton. 

"I  declare,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "that's  a 
brilliant  idea!  I'll  go  tell  Helen  that  I  don't 
think  she's  yet  fit  to  have  them  back 
again." 

"And  I,"  said  Mr.  Burton,  preparing  to  go 
to  the  city,  "will  try  to  persuade  Tom  into 
the  same  belief,  though  I  know  he'll  look  like 
a  man  being  led  to  execution." 

The  Burtons  left  the  house  together  a  few 
minutes  later,  and  the  boys  returned  soon 
after.  Being  unable  to  find  their  aunt,  they 
descended  to  the  kitchen,  and  made  a  formal 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    285 

demand  upon  the  cook  for  saucers,  spoons, 
sugar  and  cream. 

"An'  fhot  are  yees  up  to  now?"  asked 
Bridget. 

'  You'll  see,  after  you  give  us  the  things," 
said  Budge. 

"  Deysh  the  reddesht,  biggesht  ones  I  ever 
saw  anywheresh,"  Toddie  exclaimed. 

"  I  don't  want  ye  to  be  takin'  the  things 
way  off  to  nobody  but  the  dhivil  knows 
where,"  said  Bridget.  "Fhot  if  yees  should 
lose  one  of  the  shpoons  an'  the  misthress  'ud 
think  I  sthole  it?" 

"  Oh,  we  won't  go  anywheres  but  'cept 
under  the  trees  in  the  back  yard,"  pleaded 
Budge.  "An'  there's  all  the  nice  berries 
spoilin'  now  wiiile  you're  botherin'  about  it. 
My  papa  says  berries  ought  always  to  be 
eaten  just  when  they're  picked." 

"  Av  it's  only  berries,  I  s'pose  yees  can 
have  the  things,"  muttered  Bridget,  bringing 
from  a  closet  a  small  tray,  and  covering  it 
with  the  desired  articles. 

"  Give  us  another  saucer,  an'  we'll  bring 
you  some,"  said  Budge,  "  'cause  you're  nice 
to  us.  We'll  need  more  sugar,  though,  if 
we're  go  in'  to  do  that." 

In  the  presence  of  flattery  Bridget  showed 


286     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

herself  only  a  woman.  She  replaced  the  tea 
cup  of  sugar  with  a  well-filled  bowl ;  she  even 
put  a  few  lumps  on  top  of  the  powdered  ar 
ticle  which  filled  the  bowl,  and  as  the  boys 
departed  she  remarked  to  the  chambermaid 
that  "that  bye  Budge  is  a  rale  gintleman. 
I've  heard  as  how  his  father's  folks  came 
from  the  ould  counthry,  an'  mark  me  words, 
Jane,  they're  from  the  nobility." 

A  few  minutes  later  Mrs.  Burton  emerged 
from  the  sick-room  of  her  sister-in-law.  She 
had  meant  to  stay  but  a  moment,  but  Mrs. 
Lawrence's  miniature  had,  as  a  special  favor, 
been  placed  in  Mrs.  Burton's  arms,  and  it  was 
so  wee  and  helpless,  and  made  such  funny 
little  noises,  and  blinked  so  inquiringly,  and 
stretched  forth  such  a  diminutive  rose  petal 
of  a  hand,  that  time  had  flown  in  apprehen 
sion,  and  sent  the  nurse  to  recapture  the 
baby  and  banish  the  visitor.  And  Mrs. 
Burton  was  sauntering  leisurely  homeward, 
looking  at  nothing  in  particular,  touching 
tenderly  with  the  tip  of  her  parasol  the  dai 
sies  and  buttercups  that  looked  up  to  her  from 
the  roadside,  stopping  even  to  look  inquir 
ingly  upon  a  solitary  ewe,  who  seemed  solici 
tous  for  the  welfare  of  a  lamb  which  playfully 
evaded  her.  Suddenly  Mrs.  Burton  heard  a 


287 

howl,  a  roar,  and  a  scream  inextricably 
mixed .  She  immediately  dropped  all  thought 
of  smaller  beings,  for  she  recognized  the 
tones  of  her  nephews.  A  moment  later,  the 
noise  increasing  in  volume  all  the  while,  both 
boys  emerged  from  behind  a  point  of  woods, 
running  rapidly,  and  alternately  howling  and 
clapping  their  hands  to  their  mouths.  Mrs. 
Burton  ran  to  meet  them,  and  exclaimed : 

"  Boys,  do  stop  that  dreadful  noise.  What 
is  the  matter  ? ' ' 

"  Ow — um— oh ! ' '  screamed  Budge. 

'*  Wezh  been — ow! — eatin'  some — some — 
ow! — some  pieces  of  de  bad  playsh,"  said 
Toddie,  "wif,  oh,  oh! — cream  an'  sugar  on 
'em.  But  dey  wazh  dzust  as  hot  as  if  noffin' 
was  on  'em." 

"Come  back  and  let  aunty  see  about  it," 
said  the  mystified  woman,  but  Budge  howled 
and  twitched  away,  while  Toddie  said: 

'  Wantzh  papa  an'  manma!  Deyzh  had 
all  little  boy  bovvers  an'  knowsh  what  to  do. 
Wantsh  to  get  in  our  ice-housh  an'  never  go— 
ow! — out  of  it." 

The  screaming  of  the  children  had  been 
heard  farther  than  Mrs.  Burton  imagined  it 
could  be,  for  a  sound  of  heavy  and  rapid  foot 
steps  increased  behind  her  and,  turning,  she 


288     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

beheld  the  faithful  Mike,  Mr.  Lawrence's 
gardener-coachman . 

"  Fhot  is  it,  dharlin'?"  asked  Mike,  looking 
sharply  at  each  boy,  and  picking  a  red  speck 
from  the  front  of  Toddie's  dress.  "  Murther 
alive !  red  peppers ' ' ' 

Mike  dashed  across  the  street,  vaulted  a 
fence,  and  into  an  inclosed  bit  of  woodland, 
ran  frantically  about  among  the  trees,  stopped 
in  front  of  one  and  attacked  it  with  his  knife, 
to  the  astonishment  of  Mrs.  Burton,  who 
imagined  the  man  had  lost  his  senses.  A  few 
seconds  later  he  returned  with  a  strip  of 
bark,  which  he  cut  into  small  pieces  as  he 
ran. 

"Here,  ye  dharlin'  little  divils,"  said  he, 
cramming  a  piece  of  the  bark  into  each  boy's 
mouth,  "chew  that.  It's  slippery  elm;  it'll 
sthop  the  burnin'.  Don't  the  byes  play  that 
trick  on  the  other  byes  at  school  often  an' 
often,  an'  hasn't  me  sister's  childher  been 
nearly  murthered  by  it?  An'  fhot  ought 
your  father  do  to  yees  for  throyin'  to  shwally 
such  thrash?  Oh,  but  wouldn't  I  loike  to 
f oind  the  dhivils  that  put  yees  up  to  it !  Who 
was  they  ?  Tell  me,  so  I  can  sind  them  afther 
their  father,  where  it's  hotter  than  pepper." 

"  How  did  you  come  to  eat  red  peppers?" 


A    RED    PEPPER    EXPERIENCE 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   289 

asked  Mrs.  Burton,  as  the  children  escaped 
slowly  from  their  pain. 

"  Why,  a  boy  once  told  us  they  was  straw 
berries,"  cried  Budge,  "an'  to-day  we  saw  a 
lot  where  men  was  spoilin'  a  garden  to  build 
a  house,  an'  we  asked  'em  if  we  could  have 
'em,  an'  they  said  yes,  an'  we  brought  'em 
all  back  in  a  piece  of  paper,  an'  didn't  bite 
one  of  'em,  'cause  we  wanted  to  eat  'em  all  in 
a  littel  tea-party  like  gentlemen,  and  the  first 
one  I  chewed — ow!  That  poor  rich  man  in 
the  fire — I  know  just  how  he  felt  when  he 
begged  Abraham  to  have  his  tongue  cooled 
with  a  drop  of  water." 

"  Poor  old  rich  man  didn't  have  all  de  fire 
in  hizh  mouf,  'spectin'  dat  'twazh  goin'  to  be 
strawbewwies,"  sobbed  Toddie. 

'''  There  wasn't  no  dear  old  Mike  to  go  an' 
get  him  slippery  elm,  either,"  said  Budge. 
"  Soon's  we  come  back  home  to  stay,  Mike, 
I'm  goin'  to  put  dirt  in  the  stable-pump,  just 
to  be  real  good  about  stoppin'  when  you  tell 
me  to." 

"An'  I,"  said  Toddie,  " 'zh  goin'  to  make 
you  a  present  all  alone  by  myseff.  I  don't 
know  yet  what  it'll  be.  I  guess  it'll  have  to 
be  a  'sprise.  What  would  you  like  best? — a 
gold  watch  or  a  piece  of  peanut  candy?" 


29o     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

Between  two  presents  of  such  nearly  equal 
value  Michael,  the  benefactor,  found  some 
difficulty  in  deciding,  and  he  walked  away 
with  that  application  of  fingers  to  head  which 
is  peculiar  to  many  persons  when  in  a  quan 
dary.  Meanwhile  Mrs.  Burton  led  the  chil 
dren  toward  her  own  house,  saying: 

"  What  can  we  do  to-day  that  can  be  ex 
tremely  nice,  little  boys?  Mamma  expects 
you  home  to-morrow,  and  Aunt  Alice  wants 
to  make  your  last  day  a  very  happy  one." 

"To-morrow!"  exclaimed  Budge,  appar 
ently  oblivious  to  all  else  his  aunt  had  said. 
"  I  thought  we  were  going  home  to-day!" 

"So  you  were,  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Burton; 
"  but  you  didn't  seem  to  be  in  any  hurry,  and 
I  couldn't  bear  to  let  you  go  so  soon.  Did 
you  really  want  to  go  to-day?" 

"Why,  I've  been  thinkin'  about  it  an' 
countin'  days  till  to-day  ever  since  we've 
come,"  said  Budge.  "Sometimes  it  seemed 
as  if  I'd  burst  if  I  couldn't  be  back  home 
again,  but  I  tried  to  be  real  good  about  it, 
'cause  papa  said  'twould  be  better  for  the 
sister-baby  and  mamma  if  we  stayed  away. 
Sometimes  in  the  night-time,  I've  cried  be 
cause  I  wasn't  in  my  own  little  bed." 

"You  poor  dear  boy,"  said  Mrs.  Burton, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   291 

stopping  to  kiss  Budge,  "  why  didn't  you  tell 
Aunt  Alice  when  you  were  so  unhappy?" 

"You  couldn't  do  me  any  good,"  said 
Budge.  "  Nobody  could  but  my  papa  or 
mamma.  An 'then  I  don't  like  to  tell  what's 
hurtin'  my  heart — somethin'  in  my  throat 
makes  me  hate  to  tell  such  things." 

"Haven't  you  had  a  pleasant  time  at  our 
house?  When  you've  not  been  doing  what 
ever  you  liked,  haven't  Uncle  Harry  and  I 
been  trying  to  make  you  happy  ? ' ' 

"  Oh,  yes.  But  some  folks  know  just 
what  we  like,  and  some  other  folks  know 
what  they  want  us  to  like ;  and  the  first  some 
folks  are  my  papa  and  mamma,  an'  the  other 
some  folks  are  you  an'  Uncle  Harry.  You've 
done  some  real  nice  things  for  us,  though,  an' 
I'm  goin'  to  ask  mamma  to  let  us  invite  you 
to  our  house,  an'  then  I'll  show  you  how  to 
take  care  of  little  boys  an'  make  'em  happy ! ' ' 

"You  come  to  vizhit  at  our  housh,"  said 
Toddie,  "  an  you  can  have  cake  between 
mealsh,  an'  make  mud-pies  whenever  you 
want  to,  no  matter  if  youzh  got  your  very 
besht  clozhezh  on.  An'  I  won't  ever  say 
'Don't!'  to  you  one  single  time!" 

"An'  you  shall  have  your  own  mamma 
come  every  day  to  frolic  an'  cut  up  with 


292     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

you,"  said  Budge.  "  I  wish  you  had  a  papa; 
we'd  have  him  too!" 

"Aunt  Alice,"  said  Budge,  "how  do  big 
folks  get  along  without  papas  and  mammas  ? ' ' 

"I  don't  know,  I'm  sure,  dear,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton,  remembering  how  helpless  she  found 
herself  when  her  husband  first  took  her  from 
beneath  her  mother's  wing. 

"  Don't  they  ever  have  somethin'  to  tell 
'em,  an'  then  feel  like  somebody  else  when 
they  find  they  ain't  there  to  tell  'em  to?" 

"  I  suppose  some  do,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  re 
calling  some  periods  of  her  own  life  when  she 
longed  for  a  confidant  who  should  be  neither 
lover  nor  friend. 

"  Don't  you  think  maybe  they  look  all 
around  then,  an'  think  the  nicer  things  are 
the  lonelier  they  are?"  continued  Budge. 

;'Yes,  dear,"  replied  Mrs.  Burton,  with  a 
kiss. 

"  Musht  be  awful  not  to  have  anybody  to 
ask  for  pennies  when  youzh  lonesome  an' 
don't  know  wrhat  else  to  do,"  said  Toddie. 

"An'  not  to  have  anybody  hold  you  to 
keep  from  kind  o'  tumblin'  to  pieces  when 
you've  seen  enough  of  everything  an'  done 
enough  of  everythin',  an'  don't  know  what's 
goin'  to  happen  next,  an'  wish  it  wouldn't 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    293 

happen  at  all,"  said  Budge.  "Say,  Aunt 
Alice,  folks  don't  ever  have  to  feel  that  way 
when  they  get  to  be  angels,  do  they?" 

"No,  indeed!" 

"  Well,  do  you  think  it  makes  folks  in 
heaven  happy  to  have  a  father — the  Lord, 
you  know,  when  there  ain't  any  thin'  to  ask 
Him  for  ?  If  they're  happy  the  whole  time,  I 
don't  see  when  they  can  think  about  how  nice 
it  is  to  have  a  heavenly  papa.  Do  little 
angels  ever  have  to  go  away  from  home  an' 
stay  a  few  days,  an'  not  see  their  father  at 
all?" 

"Mercy — no!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton, 
with  a  shudder.  "  Where  do  you  get  such 
ideas,  Budge?" 

"  Nowhere.  I  don't  get  'em  at  all — they 
get  me,  an'  don't  let  go  of  me  until  I  think 
myself  most  to  pieces,  or  else  get  somethin' 
new  to  do  that  makes  me  forget  'em." 

Mrs.  Burton  mentally  resolved  to  imme 
diately  find  something  new  for  Budge  to  do, 
if  only  to  keep  him  from  leading  her  mind 
upon  ground  which,  being  unknown  to  her, 
she  assumed  must  be  dangerous.  Her  anx 
iety  was  not  lessened  when  Toddie  strayed 
into  more  active  conversation. 

"Aunt  Alish,"  said  he,  "what  does  little 


294     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

boy  angels  do  wif  deir  pennies  when  dey  get 
'em?  Ish  dere  candy  stores  up  in  hebben, 
and  do  de  folks  dat  keeps  'em  give  more  for  a 
penny  dan  dey  do  here  ? ' ' 

"  Pennies  are  of  no  use  in  heaven,  Toddie," 
said  Mrs.  Burton,  almost  frantic  to  find  a 
way  of  escape  from  the  pair  of  literalists,  yet 
remembering  her  longings  of  the  early  morn 
ing,  to  have  the  boys  with  her  that  she  might 
find  her  way  to  their  hearts  and  lead  them 
into  her  own. 

"What?  Not  good  for  anyfin'?"  asked 
Toddie.  "Wouldn't  it  be  dweadful  den  if  I 
was  to  get  to  be  an  angel  right  now  ?  — dere'sh 
sixty-four  pennies  in  my  savings  bank." 

;'You  can't  carry  pennies  to  heaven,  you 
silly  boy!"  exclaimed  Budge.  "  In  a  place 
where  the  streets  are  made  of  gold,  you  don't 
s'pose  anybody  cares  for  pennies,  do  you?  I 
don't  b'lieve  you  could  buy  a  single  stick  of 
candy  there  for  less  than  a  dollar  bill ! ' ' 

"  If  you  little  boys  are  so  fond  of  candy," 
said  Mrs.  Burton,  in  desperation,  "we  will 
make  a  lot  ourselves,  after  lunch." 

"Oh,  oh!"  Budge  exclaimed.  "Can  com 
mon  folks  like  us  make  candy  ? ' ' 

"  But  we  are  not  common  folks,  Budge." 

"I  think  we  are,"  said  the  boy,  "when  I 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   295 


think    what    lovely    people    candy-makers 
must  be." 

"  How  much  will  we  make  ? ' '  asked  Toddie. 
"Two  pennies'  worth?" 

"  Oh,  yes.  More  than  two  little  boys  can 
eat  in  a  day." 

"Gwacious    Peter!"     Toddie    exclaimed, 
"dat  would  be  more  dan  a  whole  candy- 
store  full!    Come 
on!  Don't  letsh  eat 
any  lunch   at   all, 
so's    to    have    our 
tummuks  all  empty 
for  de  candy.' 

"I'll  bet  I 
can  walk  fas 
ter  than  you 
can ,  Aunt 
Alice,"  said 
Budge,  tug 
ging  at  his  aunt  with  one  hand  and  pushing 
her  with  the  other. 

"I  can  run  faster  dan  bofe  of  you," 
shouted  Toddie.  "  Come  on ! " 

Mrs.  Burton  declined  both  challenges,  so 
the  boys  went  rapidly  over  the  course  with 
out  her  and  ran  frantically  up  and  down  the 
piazza  until  their  aunt  joined  them. 


296     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"What  are  you  goin'  to  make  it  in,  Aunt 
Alice?"  shouted  Budge,  while  Mrs.  Burton 
was  yet  a  hundred  yards  away. 

"A  saucepan." 

"  A  washboiler  would  be  better — two  wash- 
boilersh!"  suggested  Toddie. 

"  Now,  do  you  want  to  go  home  to-day, 
Budge?"  asked  Mrs.  Burton  mischievously. 

"  I— well — I  guess  you'd  better  not  re 
mind  me  very  much  about  it, "  replied  Budge, 
"else  maybe  I  will.  What  kind  of  candy  is 
it  goin'  to  be?" 

"Molasses." 

"  De  stick  kind,  or  de  sticky?"  asked 
Toddie. 

"Both,"  replied  the  lady,  ascending  the 
steps. 

"Oh,  goody,  goody!"  exclaimed  Toddie, 
clutching  at  his  aunt's  dress.  "  I  wants  to 
kish  you." 

"An'  I  want  to  give  you  an  awful  big 
hug,"  said  Budge. 

Mrs.  Burton  accepted  these  proffered 
tokens  of  esteem  and  afterward  spent  two 
miserable  hours  in  trying  to  pacify  the  boys 
until  lunch-time.  They  ate  scarcely  any 
thing,  and  remonstrated  so  persistently 
against  their  aunt's  appetite  that  the  meal 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    297 

remained  almost  untouched.  Then  the  lady 
was  escorted  to  the  kitchen  by  her  nephews 
and  there  was  an  animated  discussion  as  to 
the  size  of  the  saucepan  to  be  used,  and  the 
boys  watched  the  pouring  of  the  molasses  so 
closely  that  not  a  fly  dared  to  assist.  Then 
they  quarreled  for  the  right  to  stir  the  odor 
ous  mass  until  Mrs.  Burton  was  obliged  to 
allot  them  three-minute  reliefs  by  the  kitchen 
clock,  and  Budge  declared  that  his  turns 
didn't  last  more  than  a  second,  while  Toddie 
complained  that  they  occupied  two  hours, 
and  each  boy  had  to  assist  at  the  critical 
operation  of  "trying,"  and  they  consumed 
what  seemed  to  them  long,  weary  years  in 
watching  the  paste  cool  itself.  When,  at 
last,  Mrs.  Burton  pronounced  one  panfull 
ready  to  "pull,"  a  deep  sigh  of  relief  burst 
from  each  little  chest. 

" This  is  the  way  to  pull  candy,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton,  touching  her  fingers  lightly  with 
butter,  and  then  taking  a  portion  of  the  paste 
from  a  pan  and  drawing  it  into  a  string  in  the 
usual  manner.  "And  here,"  she  said,  sep 
arating  the  smaller  portions,  "  is  a  piece  for 
each  of  you." 

Budge  carefully  oiled  his  ringers  as  he  had 
seen  his  aunt  do,  and  proceeded  cautiously  to 


298     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

draw  his  candy,  but  Toddie  seized  his  por 
tion  with  both  hands,  raised  it  to  his  mouth, 
and  fastened  his  teeth  in  it.  Mrs.  Burton 
sprang  at  him  in  an  instant. 

"  Stop,  Toddie — quick !  It  may  fasten  your 
teeth  together  so  you  can't  easily  open  them. 

Many  were  the  inarticulate  noises,  all  in  a 
tone  of  remonstrance,  that  Toddie  made  as 
his  aunt  forcibly  removed  the  mass  from  his 
face.  When  at  last  he  could  open  his  mouth 
he  exclaimed: 

"Don't  want  mine  pulled!  itsh  too  awful 
good  the  way  it  izh — you'll  pull  de  good  out, 
I'zh  'fwaid." 

"  You  boys  should  have  aprons,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton.  "  Budge,  put  down  your  candy, 
run  upstairs  and  tell  Jane  to  bring  down  two 
of  Toddie 's  aprons." 

Budge  hurried  upstairs,  forgetting  the 
first  half  of  his  aunt's  injunction.  Return 
ing,  he  had  just  reached  the  foot  of  the  main 
stair,  when  the  door-bell  rang.  Hastily  put 
ting  his  candy  down,  he  opened  the  door  and 
admitted  two  ladies,  who  asked  for  Mrs. 
Burton. 

"  I  guess  she's  too  busy  makin'  candy  to  be 
bothered  by  any  lady,"  said  Budge,  "  but  I'll 
ask  her.  Sit  down.' 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    299 

Ten  minutes  later,  Mrs.  Burton,  by  a  con 
centration  of  effort  peculiar  to  woman,  but 
which  must  ever  remain  a  mystery  to  man, 
entered  the  parlor  in  afternoon  dress,  and 
greeted  her  visitors.  Both  rose  to  meet  her, 
and  with  one  of  them  rose  also  a  rocking- 
chair  with  a  cane  seat.  This  remained  in 
mid-air  only  an  instant,  however,  for  the 
lady's  dress  had  not  been  designed  for  the 
purpose  of  moving  furniture;  with  a  sharp, 
ripping  sound,  like  that  of  musketry  file- 
firing  afar  off,  her  skirt  soon  took  the  appear 
ance  of  a  train  dress,  heavily  puffed  at  the 
waist  with  fabric  of  another  color. 

Both  ladies  endeavored  to  disengage  her; 
Mrs.  Burton  turned  pale  and  then  red  as  she 
discovered  the  cause  of  the  accident,  while 
Budge's  voice  was  heard  from  the  doorway 
saying : 

"Aunt  Alice,  have  you  seen  my  candy?  I 
laid  it  down  somewhere  so's  to  let  the  ladies 
in,  an'  now  I  can't  find  it!" 

An  indignant  gesture  by  Mrs.  Burton  sent 
Budge  away  pouting  and  grumbling  and  the 
chambermaid  was  summoned,  the  visitor's 
dress  was  repaired  temporarily  and  the  acci 
dent  was  being  laughed  away,  when  from  the 
kitchen  there  arose  an  appalling  sound.  It 


300     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

was  compounded  of  shrieks,  yelps,  and  a  pe 
culiar  noise  as  of  something  being  thrown 
upon  the  floor. 

The  noise  increased;  there  were  irregular 
footfalls  upon  the  kitchen-stairs,  and  at  last 
Toddie  appeared,  dragging  by  the  collar  the 
dog  Terry,  from  whose  fore  feet  hung,  by  a 
slowly  lengthening  rope  of  candy,  one  of  the 
pans  of  the  unpulled  paste. 

"  I  fought  if  I  gived  him  candy  he  would 
be  nicer  to  me,"  Toddie  explained,"  so  I 
chased  him  into  a  closet,  an'  put  the  pan 
up  to  his  nose,  an'  told  him  to  help  hisself. 
And  he  stuck  his  foot  in,  an'- 

Further  explanation  was  given  by  deeds, 
not  words,  for  as  Toddie  spoke  the  dog  kicked 
violently  with  his  hind  feet,  disengaged  him 
self  from  Toddie  and  started  for  the  door, 
dragging  and  lengthening  his  sweet  bonds 
behind  him  upon  the  floor.  Toddie  shrieked 
and  attempted  to  catch  him,  stepped  upon 
the  candy-rope,  found  himself  fastened  to 
the  carpet,  and  burst  into  tears,  while  the 
visitors  departed  and  told  stories  which  by 
the  next  afternoon  had  developed  into  the 
statement  that  Mrs.  Burton  had  been  foolish 
enough  to  indulge  her  nephews  in  a  candy- 
pulling  in  her  parlor  and  upon  her  new  carpet. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    301 

As  for  the  boys,  Budge  ate  some  of  his 
candy,  and  Toddie  ate  much  of  everybodies, 
and  had  difficulty  in  saving  a  fragment  for 
his  uncle.  And  when  at  night  he  knelt  in 
spotless  white  to  pray  he  informed  Heaven 
that  now  he  understood  what  ladies  meant 
when  they  said  they  had  had  a  real  sweet 
time. 


302 


CHAPTER  XI 

"  We're  goin'  home 
We're  goin'  home 
We're  goin'  home 

To  die  no  more." 

SANG  Budge  through  the  hall  next  morn 
ing,  and  he  repeated  the  lines  over  and 
over  so  many  times  that  they  at  last  impressed 
themselves  upon  the  mind  of  Toddie,  who 
asked : 

"Budgie,  izh  you  a-tellin'  de  troof?" 

"What  'bout?" 

"  Why,  'bout  not  dyin'.  Don't  little  boys 
hazh  to  die  after  goin'  to  live  wif  their  uncles 
an'  aunts  for  a  little  while?" 

"  Oh,  of  course  they  do,  but  I'm  so  happy 
I've  got  to  sing  somethin' ;  the  front  part  of  it 
is  troof,  and  that's  three  times  as  big  as  the 
other  part,  and  I  can't  think  of  any  other 
song  'bout  goin'  home." 

"  Datsh  too  baddy,"  complained  Toddie. 
"I  fought  you  wazh  tellin'  the  troof,  an'  I 
wouldn't  never  hazh  to  hazh  a  lot  of  dirt  on 
my  eyes,  so  I  couldn't  look  up  into  de  sky." 

"  Oh,  you  won't  have  to  be  bothered  that 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    303 


way,"  said  Budge.  "When  you  die  your 
spirit  goes  up  to  heaven,  an'  you  can  look 
straight  down  froo  the  sky  with  your  new 
eyes,  an'  laugh  at  the  old  dirt  that  thinks  it's 
keepin'  your  old  eyes  shut  up." 

"Don't  want  no  new  eyes!"      Eyes  I'zh 
got  izh  good  enough 
to  see  rings  wif." 

' But  just  you 
think,  Toddie," 
reasoned  Budge, 
"heaven-eyes  can't 
get  dust  in  'em,  or 
have  to  be  washed, 
or  be  bothered  with 
choo-choo  smoke." 

"Can't  smoke  get 
in  the  windows  of 
steam-cars  up  in 
hebben?" 

"Of  course  not! 
Not  if  everythin's 
goin'  to  be  all  right 

up  there.  There  ain't  no  choo-choos  in 
heaven  anyhow.  What  does  angels  want 
of  choo-choos,  I'd  like  to  know,  when  they've 
got  wings  to  fly  with  ? ' ' 

"I'd  never  want  all  the  choo-choos  to  go 


'WE'RE  GOIN'  HOME" 


3o4     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

away,  even  if  I  had  a  fousand  wingsh,"  said 
Toddie.  'Twould  be  such  fun  to  fan  my 
self  wif  my  wings  when  I  was  goin'  froo  hot 
old  tunnels." 

'Tunnels  can't  be  hot  in  heaven,"  ex 
plained  Budge;  "  'cause  they're  uncomforta 
ble,  an'  nothin'  can  be  uncomfortable  in 
heaven.  I  guess  there  ain't  any  tunnels 
there  at  all.  Oh,  yes!  I  guess  there's  little 
bits  of  ones,  just  long  enough  to  give  little 
boys  the  fun  of  ridin'  in  and  ridin'  out  of  'em. 

'  Well,  how's  you  goin'  to  ride  in  an'  out  if 
dere  ain't  no  choo-choos  to  pull  de  cars?" 

"  Well,  I'll  tell  you,  Tod,  I  guess  that's  one 
of  the  things  that  the  Bible  don't  tell  folks 
about  heaven.  You  know  papa  says  that 
there's  lots  of  things  the  Lord  don't  let 
people  know  'bout  heaven;  'cause  it's 
none  of  their  business,  an'  I  guess  that's  one 
of  'em." 

"Wish  dere'd  be  some  more  Bibles,  den!" 
"I  wantsh  to  know  lotsh  more  fingsh." 

"  Well,  anyhow,"  said  Budge,  "we're  goin' 
home  to-day,  an'  that  fills  me  so  full  I  ain't 
got  room  for  the  littlest  speck  of  heaven. 
Wonder  who's  goin'  to  take  us,  an'  when 
we're  a-goin',  an'  ev'rything?  Let's  go  ask 
Uncle  Harrv.' 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   305 

"  Come  on! "  exclaimed  Toddie,  "  Izh  been 
finkin'  awful  hard  'bout  how  to  get  into  his 
bedroom  wifout  bein'  scolded,  an'  now  I 
know.  Hurry  up  'fore  we  forgets." 

Both  boys  hurried  to  the  family  chamber, 
and  assaulted  the  door  with  fists  and  feet. 

The  overture  of  the  angels,'"  quoted 
Mr.  Burton,  "'and  positively  their  last  ap 
pearance." 

"Don't  speak  of  it,"  said  Mrs.  Burton.  "I've 
been  crying  about  it  in  my  dreams,  I  believe, 
and  I'm  in  a  condition  to  begin  again." 

"I've  a  great  mind  to  make  them  cry," 
said  the  man  of  the  house  savagely.  "  No 
scrubbing  will  take  the  mark  of  small  shoe- 
toes  out  of  painted  wood." 

"  Let  them  kick  to  their  dear  little  hearts' 
content !  Not  a  mark  of  that  kind  shall  ever 
be  insulted  by  a  scrubbing  brush.  I  feel  as 
if  I'd  like  to  go  about  the  house  and  kiss 
everything  they ' ve  touched . ' ' 

'You  might  kiss  the  sounding  board  of 
my  violin,  then,"  said  Mr.  Burton,  "where 
there's  an  ineffaceable  scratch  from  a  nail 
in  Toddie 's  shoe,  placed  there  on  the  morning 
of  your  birthday  anniversary .  There 's  a  nice 
generous  blot  on  the  wood  of  the  writing- 
desk,  too,  where  Toddie  upset  -a  bottle  of 


3o6     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

violet  ink.  Would  that  your  kisses  could 
efface  the  stain  that  the  cabinet-maker  says 
is  indelible.  Then  there  are  some  dingy 
streaks  on  the  wall  beside  their  bed,  where 
they've  lain  crosswise  and  rubbed  their  heads 
against  the  wall." 

"  It  shall  remain  forever,"  said  the  lady. 

"What!  in  your  darling  spare  chamber?" 

A  violent  mental  struggle  showed  its  indi 
cations  in  Mrs.  Burton's  face, but  she  replied: 

"The  furniture  can  be  changed.  We  can 
put  a  screen  in  front  of  the  place ;  we'll  change 
the  room  in  any  way,  excepting  their  blessed 
tokens  of  occupation." 

But  none  of  this  devotion  found  its  way 
through  the  keyhole  to  shame  the  boys  into 
silence,  for  the  noise  increased  until  Mrs. 
Burton  herself  hastened  to  draw  the  bolt. 

"It's  us,"  was  the  unnecessary  informa 
tion,  volunteered  by  Budge  as  the  door 
opened;  "an'  we  want  to  know  when  we're 
goin'  home,  an'  who's  goin'  to  take  us,  an' 
how,  an'  what  you're  goin'  to  give  us  to  re 
member  you  by,  an'  we  don't  care  to  have  it 
flowers,  'cause  we've  got  plenty  of  'em  at 
home." 

"Fruit-cake  would  be  nicesht,"  suggested 
Toddie.  "Folks  'members  that  an  awful 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   307 

long  time,  'cause  when  mamma  once  asked 
papa  if  he  'membered  de  fruit-cake  at  Mrs. 
Birch's  party  he  looked  drefful  sad,  an'  said 
he  couldn't  ever  forget  it.  Say,  Aunt  Alish, 
don't  you  get  extra  nice  dinners  for  folks 
dat's  goin'  away?  Mamma  always  doesh; 
says  dey  need  it,  cauzh  folks  need  to  be  well- 
feed  ed  when  they'se  goin'  to  travel."  [The 
distance  from  the  Burton  residence  to  that 
of  the  Lawrences  was  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile.] 

"You  shall  have  a  good-by  dinner,  Tod- 
die,  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Burton;  "and  the  very 
nicest  one  that  I  can  prepare." 

"Better  make  it  a  brekspup,"  suggested 
Toddie.  "  Mebbe  we'll  be  come  for  'fore 
dinner-time." 

'You  sha'n't  be  taken  until  you  get  it, 
dear." 

"  I  'spects  I'll  have  an  awful  good  dinner 
waitin'  for  us,  too,  when  we  get  home,"  said 
Budge;  "  'cause  that's  the  way  the  papa  in 
the  Bible  did,  an'  yet  he  had  only  one  boy 
come  home  instead  of  two,  an'  he'd  been 
bad." 

''  What  portion  of  the  Scriptural  narrative 
is  that  child  running  into  now?"  asked  Mrs. 
Burton. 


3o8     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Aunt  Alice  don't  know  who  you're  talk 
ing  about,  Budge,"  said  Mr.  Burton.  "Ex 
plain  it  to  her." 

"  Why,  that  boy  that  his  papa  made  a  din 
ner  out  of  fat  veal  for,"  said  Budge;  "  though 
I  never  could  see  how  that  was  a  very  nice 
dinner." 

"Worse  and  worse,"  sighed  Mrs.  Burton. 

"Tell  us  all  about  it,  old  fellow,"  said  Mr. 
Burton.  '  We  don't  know  what  you're  driv 
ing  at." 

"Why,"  exclaimed  Budge,  "are  you  bad 
folks  that  don't  read  your  Bible-books?  I 
thought  everybody  knew  about  him.  Why, 
he  was  a  boy  that  went  to  his  papa  one  day 
and  told  him  that  whatever  he  was  goin'  to 
give  him  as  long  as  he  lived,  he  wished  he'd 
give  it  to  him  all  at  once.  An'  his  papa  did. 
Wasn't  he  a  lovely  papa,  though?  So  the 
boy  took  the  money,  an'  went  t ravelin',  an' 
had  larks.  There's  a  picture  about  it  all 
in  LTommy  Bryan's  mamma's  parlor,  but 
I  don't  think  it's  very  larkey;  he's  just 
a-sittin'  down  with  a  whole  lot  of  women 
actin'  like  geese  all  around  him.  But  he 
had  to  pay  money  to  have  larks,  an'  he 
had  such  lots  of  'em  that  pretty  soon  he 
didn't  have  no  money.  Say,  Uncle  Harry, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    309 

why  don't  people  have  all  the  money  they 
want?" 

"That's  the  world's  prize  conundrum," 
said  Mr.  Burton.  "  Ask  me  something  easier." 

"I'm  goin'  to  have  all  the  money  I  wantsh 
when  I  gets  growed,"  said  Toddie. 

"  How  are  you  going  to  get  it?"  asked  his 
uncle,  with  natural  interest. 

"  Goin'  to  be  real  good,  an'  then  ashk  de 
Lord  for  it,"  said  Toddie.  "Wonder  where 
de  Lord  keepsh  de  lotsh  of  nysh  rings  he's 
goin'  to  give  good  people  when  dey  ashk  Him 
for  'em? — money  and  rings?" 

"Why,  in  heaven,  of  course,"  said  Budge. 

"  Hazh  He  got  a  savin's  bank  an'  a  toy- 
store?"  asked  Toddie. 

"Sh— h— h!"   whispered    Mrs.    Burton. 

"  He's  only  talking  of  what  grown  people 
expect,  my  dear,"  said  Mr.  Burton.  "Go 
on,  Budge." 

"  Well,  he  didn't  have  any  more  money, 
an'  he  couldn't  write  to  his  papa  for  some, 
'cause  there  wasn't  any  post  offices  in  that 
country,  so  he  went  to  work  for  a  man,  an 
the  man  made  him  feed  pigs,  and  he  had  to 
eat  the  same  things  that  the  pigs  ate.  I 
don't  know  whether  he  ate  them  out  of  a 
troff  or  not.' 


3io     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"It's  a  great  pity  that  you  are  in  doubt 
on  that  point,"  said  Mr.  Burton. 

"  He  could  play  in  de  mud  like  de  pigs, 
couldn't  he?"  said  Toddie.  "His  papa  was 
too  far  away  to  know  about  it,  an'  to  say 
'Don't!'  at  him." 

"I  s'pose  so,"  said  Budge,  "but  I  don't 
think  a  boy  could  feel  much  like  playin'  with 
mud  when  he  had  to  eat  with  the  pigs.  Well, 
he  went  along  bein'  a  pig-feeder,  when  all  at 
once  he  'membered  that  there  was  always 
enough  to  eat  at  his  papa's  house.  Say, 
Uncle  Harry,  boys  is  alike  everywhere,  ain't 
they?" 

"  I  suppose  so,  present  company  excepted. 
But  what  reminded  you  of  it?" 

"  Why,  he  wanted  to  go  home  when  he 
couldn't  hook  enough  from  the  pigs  to  fill 
his  stomach,  an'  my  papa  says  little  boys 
that  can't  be  found  when  their  mamma 
wants  'em  always  start  for  home  when  they 
get  hungry.  That's  what  this  boy  off  in 
another  country  did — papa  says  the  Bible 
don't  tell  whether  he  told  the  man  to  get 
another  pig-feeder,  or  whether  he  just  skooted 
in  a  hurry.  But,  anyhow,  he  got  pretty  near 
home,  an'  I  guess  he  felt  awful  ashamed  of 
himself  an'  went  along  the  back  road;  for,  in 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    311 

the  picture  of  our  big  Bible-book,  his  clothes 
are  awful  ragged  an'  mussy,  an'  he  must  have 
been  sure  he  was  goin'  to  get  scolded  an'  wish 
he  could  get  in  the  back  door  an'  go  up  to  his 
room  without  anybody  seein'  him." 

"Oh,  Harry!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton. 
"This  is  growing  perfectly  dreadful.  It's 
positively  sacrilegious. ' ' 

'  The  application  is  the  only  sacred  part  of 
the  original,  my  dear, "  said  Mr.  Burton,  "  and 
you  may  trust  that  boy  to  discover  the  point 
of  anything.  I  wish  doctors  -of  divinity  were 
like  him.  Go  ahead,  Budge.  *' 

"Well,  he  was  sneakin'  along,  an'  gettin' 
behind  trees  an'  fences  whenever  he  saw  any 
body  comin'  that  he  knew,  when  all  at  once 
his  papa  saw  him.  Papas  always  can  see 
farther  than  anybody  else,  I  believe,  an'  they 
always  kind  o'  know  when  their  boys  are 
comin',  an'  they  just  look  as  if  they'd  always 
been  standin'  right  there  wait  in'  for  'em. 
An'  that  pig-feeder's  papa  ran  right  out  of  the 
house  without  his  hat  on — that's  the  way  he 
is  in  the  picture  in  the  big  Bible-book,  an' 
grabbed  him,  an'  kissed  him,  an'  hugged  him 
so  hard  that  he  had  to  grunt,  an'- 

"  An'  he  didn't  say  '  Why,  how  did  you  get 
your  clozhezh  so  dyty,'  eiver?"  said  Toddie. 


"  No,  indeed !  An'  the  pig-feeder  said  he'd 
been  a  bad  boy,  an'  he  guessed  he'd  better 
eat  his  dinner  in  the  kitchen  after  that,  but 
his  papa  wouldn't  let  him.  He  put  clean 
clothes  on  him,  an'  gave  him  a  new  pair  of 
shoes,  an'  put  a  ring  on  his  finger." 

"  Ringsh  ain't  good  to  eat,"  said  Toddie. 
"I  fwallowed  one  once,  I  did,  an'  it  didn't 
taste  nohow  at  all.  And  den  I  had  to  take 
some  nashty  medshin,  an'  de  ring  came  un- 
f wallowed  again." 

"  He  didn't  give  him  the  ring  to  eat,  you 
silly  boy,"  said  Budge.  "Rings  squeeze 
fingers  all  the  time,  an'  let  folks  know  how 
the  folks  that  give  'em  the  rings  want  to 
squeeze  'em  all  the  time.  Then  they  killed  a 
whole  calf — 'cause  the  pig-feeder  was  awful 
empty,  you  know,  an'  they  had  a  jolly  old 
time.  An'  the  pig-feeder's  big  brother  heard 
'em  all  cuttin'  up,  an'  he  was  real  cross  about 
it,  'cause  he'd  always  been  good,  an'  there 
hadn't  ever  been  any  tea-parties  made  for 
him.  But  his  papa  said,  'Oh,  don't  say  a 
word — we've  got  your  brother  back  again- 
just  think  of  that,  my  boy. '  I  'm  awful  sorry 
for  that  big  brother,  though ;  I  know  how  he 
felt,  for  when  Tod's  bad,  an'  I'm  good  papa 
just  takes  Tod  in  his  lap  an'  talks  to  him, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   313 

an'  hugs  him,  an'  I  feel  awful  lonesome  an' 
wish  I  wasn't  good  a  bit." 

"And  what  do  you  suppose  the  bad  boy's 
mamma  did  when  she  saw  him  ? ' '  asked  Mr. 
Burton. 

"  Oh,"  said  Budge,  "  I  guess  she  didn't  say 
anythin',  but  just  looked  so  sad  at  him  that 


"SOME  NASHTY  MEDSHIN" 

he  made  up  his  mind  he  wouldn't  ever  do  a 
naughty  thing  again  as  long  as  he  lived,  an' 
after  that  he'd  stand  behind  her  chair  whole 
half -hours  at  a  time  just  to  look  at  her  where 
she  wouldn't  catch  him  at  it.' 


3i4     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  And  what  do  you  think  that  whole  story 
means,  Budge?"  asked  Mrs.  Burton,  deter 
mined  to  impress  at  least  one  prominent 
theological  deduction  upon  her  nephew. 

"Why,  it  means  that  good  papas  can  al 
ways  see  when  bad  boys  is  real  ashamed  of 
themselves,"  said  Budge,  "  an'  know  it's  best 
to  be  real  sweet  to  'em  then,  an'  that  papas 
that  can't  see  and  don't  know  better  than 
to  scold  'em  they  needn't  ever  expect 
to  see  their  bad  little  boys  come  home 
again." 

Mrs.  Burton  started,  and  her  husband 
laughed  inwardly  at  this  unusual  application, 
but  the  lady  recovered  herself  and  returned 
in  haste  to  her  point. 

"  Don't  you  think  it's  intended  to  teach  us 
anything  about  the  Lord ? ' '  she  asked. 

"Why,  yes,"  said  Budge,  "of  course.  He 
is  the  best  of  all  papas,  so  he'll  be  better  to  his 
bad  children  than  any  other  good  papas 
know  how  to  be." 

"  That's  wrhat  the  story  is  meant  to  teach, " 
said  Mrs.  Burton. 

"  I  thought  everybody  knew  that  about  the 
Lord."  Budge  replied. 

"  If  they  did,  Jesus  would  never  have  told 
the  story,"  said  Mrs.  Burton. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    315 

"  Oh,  I  s'pose  those  old  Jews  had  to  be  told 
it,"  said  Budge,  "  'cause  folks  used  to  be  aw 
ful  bad  to  their  children,  an'  believe  the  Lord 
would  be  awful  bad  to  them." 

' '  People  need  to  be  told  the  same  story 
now,  Budge,"  continued  Mrs.  Burton.  "They 
love  to  hear  it,  and  know  how  good  the  Lord 
is  willing  to  be  to  them." 

"  Do  they  love  it  better  than  to  learn  how 
good  they  ought  to  be  to  their  children?" 
Budge  asked.  'Then  I  think  they're  pig 
gish.  I  wouldn't  like  my  papa  an'  mamma 
to  be  that  way.  They  say  that  it's  gooder  to 
care  for  what  you  can  give  than  what  you 
can  get.  An'  Uncle  Harry  hasn't  told  us  yet 
when  we're  goin'  home,  and  who's  goin'  to 
take  us." 

'  Your  papa  is  going  to  come  for  you  as  he 
returns  from  the  city,"  said  Mr.  Burton.  "  I 
think  he  wants  to  tell  you  something  before 
you  go  home ;  you  little  boys  don't  know  yet 
how  to  act  in  a  house  where  there's  sick  mam 
mas  and  little  babies." 

"Oh,  yes,  we  do,  "said  Budge.  "All  we've 
got  to  do  is  to  sit  still  an'  look  at  'em  with  all 
our  mights." 

"Only  dzust  dzump  up  ev'ry  two  or  free 
minutes  to  kiss  'em,"  suggested  Toddie. 


3i6     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"Yes,"  said  Budge,  "an'  to  pat  their 
cheeks  an'  to  put  nice  things  to  eat  in  their 
mouths,  like  papa  an'  mamma  does  to  us, 
when  we're  sick," 

"An'  make  music  for  'em,"  said  Toddie. 

"An'  give  'em  pennies,"  said  Budge. 

"  An'  shake  their  savings  banks  for  'em  to 
make  de  pennies  rattle,  like  Budgie  did  for 
me  once  when  I  was  too  sick  to  rattle  my 
own  bank,"  said  Toddie,  bestowing  a  frantic 
hug  upon  his  brother. 

"  An'  put  the  room  to  rights  for  'em,"  said 
Budge. 

"An'  bring  'em  in  nice  mud-pies  all  ready 
baked,  like  I  did  once  for  Budgie,  to  play  wif 
on  de  bed  when  he  was  sick,"  said  Toddie. 

"An'  dance  for  'em,"  suggested  Budge. 
"  That's  the  way  I  used  to  do  for  Baby  Phillie, 
an'  it  always  made  him  happy." 

"An'  put  up  pictures  on  de  wall  for  'em," 
said  Toddie;  "we's  got  whole  newspapers 
full  that  we's  cutted  out  up  in  your  garret; 
and  dere's  a  whole  bottle  of  mucilage— 

"My  war  file  of  illustrated  papers!"  ex 
plained  Mr.  Burton.  "  How  did  they  find 
that?  Oh,  this  cross  of  love!" 

"  Whole  bottle  of  mucilage  in  papa's  room 
to  stick  'em  on  wif,"  continued  Toddie;  "  an' 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY  317 

mamma's  room  is  nice  pink,  like  de  leaves  of 
my  scrap-book  dat  pictures  look  so  pretty 
on." 

"And  these  are  the  child-ideas  of  being 
good  and  useful!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton,  as 
the  boys  forgot  everything  else  in  the  dis 
covery  of  their  uncle's  razor-strop  with  an 
extension  at  one  end. 

"Yes,"  sighed  Mr.  Burton,  "and  they're 
not  much  nearer  the  proper  thing,  in  spite  of 
their  good  intentions,  than  the  plans  of  grown 
people  for  the  management  of  children,  the 
reformation  of  the  world,  and  a  great  many 
other  things." 

"Harry!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton. 

"No  personal  allusion,  my  dear,"  said  her 
husband,  quickly.  "I'd  no  thought  of  any 
thing  of  the  kind.  Adults  and  children  alike 
mean  well  enough ;  the  difference  is  that  the 
former  wonder  why  their  ideas  are  not  appre 
ciated  while  with  the  children  the  energies 
of  parents  and  teachers  are  devoted  to  treat 
ing  mistaken  opinions  as  great  sins.  How 
many  children  could  do  the  kindnesses  which 
Budge  and  Toddie  have  devised  out  of  the 
tenderness  of  their  dear  little  hearts  and  not 
be  scolded  and  whipped  for  their  pains? 
Hosts  of  children  have  had  all  the  good  blood 


318     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

and  kind  heart  and  honest  head  scolded  and 
beaten  out  of  them,  and  only  the  baser  quali 
ties  of  their  natures  allowed  to  grow,  and 
these  only  because  in  youth  many  of  them 
are  dormant  and  don't  make  trouble." 

"  Harry,  what  a  preacher  you  are! — what  a 
terrible  preacher!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton. 

"Where  does  the  terror  come  in?"  asked 
Mr.  Burton,  with  signs  of  that  indignation 
which  every  man  with  an  idea  in  advance  of 
his  generation  must  frequently  be  afflicted 
by. 

"Why,  to  imply  that  there's  so  much  in 
justice  being  done  to  children." 

"  Of  course  the  saying  of  it  is  worse  than 
the  fact  of  its  existence,"  said  Mr.  Burton, 
with  a  curl  of  the  lip. 

"Please  don't  speak  in  that  cruel  way, 
Harry.  It  isn't  anything  of  the  sort — ex 
cepting  for  a  moment  or  two." 

Mr.  Burton  apologized,  and  restored  con 
fidence  without  saying  a  word,  and  then  the 
couple  turned  instinctively  to  look  at  the 
first  causes  of  their  conversation,  but  the 
boys  were  gone. 

;'The  tocsin  of  their  souls,  the  dinner-bell 

—breakfast-bell,     I     mean,     has     probably 

sounded,"   said    Mr.    Burton;  "and    I'm   as 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   319 

hungry  as  a  bear  myself.  Let's  descend  and 
see  what  they've  succeeded  in  doing  within 
five  brief  minutes." 

The  Burtons  found  the  dining-room,  but 
not  the  boys  and  the  chambermaid  was  sent 
in  search  of  them.  The  meal  was  slowly 
consumed  but  the  boys  did  not  appear. 

"You'd  better  have  the  cook  prepare 
something  additional,"  suggested  Mr.  Bur 
ton,  as  he  arose  and  started  for  his  train. 
'The  appetite  of  the  small  boy  is  a  principal 
that  accumulates  frightful  usury  in  a  very 
small  while  after  maturity." 

Mrs.  Burton  acted  upon  her  husband's 
suggestion,  and  busied  herself  about  house 
hold  affairs  for  an  hour  or  more,  until,  learn 
ing  that  the  boys  had  not  yet  arrived,  she 
strolled  out  to  search  for  them.  Supposing 
that  they  might  have  been  overpowered  by 
their  impatience  so  far  as  to  have  gone  home 
at  once,  she  visited  the  residence  of  her  sis 
ter-in-law,  and  inquired  of  Mike. 

"  Dhivil  a  bit  have  they  been  here,"  replied 
Michael.  "  Ain't  me  ould  eyes  sore  for  the 
soight  av  'em  all  the  whoile  ag'in?  They're 
nowhere  about  here,  rest  ye  aisy." 

"I'm  afraid  they  may  be  lost,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton. 


320     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

Mike  burst  into  a  prolonged  horse  laugh, 
and  then,  recovering  himself  by  sundry  con 
tortions  and  swallowings,  he  replied: 

"Beggin'  yez  pardon,  ma'am,  but  I 
couldn't  help  it — as  the  blessed  Virgin  is 
smoilin'  in  heaven,  I  cuddent — but  thim  byes 
can  niver  be  lost.  Lost,  is  it  ?  Cud  ye  lose  a 
ghost  or  a  bird?  They'll  foind  their  way 
anywhere  they've  been  once,  an'  if  they 
haven't  been  there  before  they'll  belave 
they  have,  an'  foind  their  way  out  all  roight. 
Lave  yer  boddher  till  dinner-time,  an'  mark 
me  wurruds  ye '11  foind  ye've  no  nade  av  it. 
Losht!"  and  Mike  burst  into  another  laugh 
that  he  hurried  into  the  stable  to  hide  while 
Mrs.  Burton  returned  to  her  home  with  a 
mind  almost  quiet. 

The  morning  ended,  however,  and  no 
small  boys  appeared  at  the  table.  Mrs.  Bur 
ton's  fears  came  back  with  increased  strength 
and  she  hurried  off  again  to  Mike  and 
implored  him  to  go  in  search  of  the  chil 
dren.  The  sight  of  an  ugly  looking  tramp 
or  two  by  the  way  suggested  kidnaping 
to  Mrs.  Burton  and  brought  tears  to  her 
eyes.  Even  the  doubting  Mike,  when  he 
learned  that  the  children  had  eaten  noth 
ing  that  day,  grew  visibly  alarmed  and 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    321 

mounted  one  of  his  master's  horses  in  hot 
haste. 

"Where  are  you  going  first,  Mike?"  asked 
Mrs.  Burton. 

"  Dhivil  a  bit  do  I  know ! ' '  exclaimed  Mike ; 
"but  I'm  goin'  to  foind  'em,  an'  may  the 
blessed  saints  go  with  me!" 

Away  galloped  Mike,  and  Mrs.  Burton, 
fearing  that  the  alarm  might  reach  the  boys' 
mother,  hurried  home,  started  the  cook  on 
one  road,  the  chambermaid  on  another,  and 
herself  on  a  third,  while  Mike  sought  the 
candystore,  the  schoolhouse,  sundry  bridges 
over  brooks, and  the  various  other  places  that 
boys  delight  in.  Mrs.  Burton's  own  course 
was  along  a  road  leading  up  the  rugged, 
heavily  wooded  hill  called  by  courtesy  a 
mountain,  but  she  paused  so  many  times,  to 
call,  to  listen,  to  step  considerably  out  of  her 
way  to  see  if  dimly  descried  figures  were  not 
those  of  her  nephews,  and  to  discover  that 
what  seemed  in  the  forest  to  be  boyish  fig 
ures  were  only  stumps  or  bushes,  that  she 
spent  at  least  two  hours  upon  the  road, 
which  doubled  many  times  upon  itself.  Sud 
denly  she  saw  in  the  road  beyond  her  a  fa 
miliar  figure  dragging  a  large  green  bough. 

"Budge!"  she  screamed  and  ran  toward 


322      BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

him.  The  little  figure  turned  its  head,  and 
Mrs.  Burton  was  shocked  to  see  a  haggard 
face,  whose  whiteness  intensified  the  starting 
eyes,  pink,  distended  nostrils,  and  thin, 
drawn  lips  of  her  nephew.  And  upon  the 
bough,  holding  to  one  of  the  upper  sprigs 
tightly  with  one  hand,  while  with  the  other 
he  clutched  something  green  and  crumpled, 
lay  Toddie,  dust-encrusted  from  head  to 
foot. 

"Oh!  what  has  happened?"  Mrs.  Burton 
exclaimed. 

Toddie  raised  his  head  and  explained. 

"  Izhe  a  shotted  soldier  bein'  tookted  to 
where  de  shooters  can't  catch  me,  like  some 
times  dey  used  to  be  in  de  war." 

Budge  dropped  in  the  road  and  cried. 

"Oh,  what  is  it?"  cried  Mrs.  Burton, 
kneeling  beside  Toddie,  and  taking  him  in 
her  arms.  And  Toddie  replied: 

"Ow!" 

"Budge,  dear,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton, 
releasing  Toddie,  and  hurrying  to  his  brother, 
''  what  has  happened  ?  Do  tell  me ! ' ' 

Budge  opened  his  eyes  and  mouth  reluc 
tantly,  and  replied  with  a  thin  voice: 

"Wait  till  I  get  alive  again,  an'  I'll  tell 
you.  I  haven't  got  many  words  inside  of 


\ 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   323 

me  now;  they're  all  dropped  out,  I'm  so 
tired,  and,  oh— 

Budge  closed  his  eyes  again.  Mrs.  Burton 
picked  him  up  tenderly,  sat  upon  a  large  stone, 
rocked  back  and  forth,  kissed  him  repeatedly, 
cried  over  him,  while  Toddie  turned  upon  his 
stomach,  surveyed  the  scene  with  apparent 
satisfaction,  and  said: 

"  Say,  Aunt  Alish,  it's  d jolly  to  be  a  shotted 
soldier." 

Budge  slowly  recovered,  put  his  arm 
around  his  aunt  tightly,  and  said: 

"Oh,  Aunt  Alice,  'twas  awful!" 

'Tell  me  all  about  it,  dear,  when  you  feel 
well  enough.  Where  have  you  been  all  day? 
Aunty's  heart  has  been  almost  broken  about 
you." 

"Why,  you  see,  we  wanted  to  do  some 
thing  nice  for  you,  'fore  we  went  home  to 
stay,  'cause  you've  been  so  nice  to  us.  Why, 
when  we  talked  about  it,  we  couldn't  think 
of  a  single  unpleasant  thing  you'd  done  to 
us — though  I'm  sure  you  done  a  lot.  Any 
how,  we  couldn't  'member  any." 

"  'Cept  sayin'  'Don't!'  lotzh  of  timesh," 
said  Toddie. 

"Well,"  said  Budge,  "Tod  thought  'bout 
that,  but  we  made  up  our  minds  perhaps  we 


324     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

needed  that  said  to  us.  An'  we  couldn't 
think  of  anything  nicer  than  to  get  you  some 
wild  flowers.  Ev'rybody's  got  tame  flowers, 
you  know,  so  we  thought  wild  ones  would  be 
nicer.  An'  we  thought  we  could  get  'em 
'fore  breakbux  if  we'd  hurry,  so  off  we  came 
right  up  to  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  but 
there  wasn't  any.  I  guess  they  wasn't 
awake  yet,  or  else  they'd  gone  to  sleep. 
Then  we  didn't  know  what  to  do." 

"  'Cept  get  you  some  bych  [birch]  bark,  " 
said  Toddie. 

;'  Yes,"  said  Budge;  "but  birch  bark  is  to 
eat,  an'  not  to  look  at ;  an'  we  wanted  to  give 
you  somethin'  you  could  see,  an'  remember 
us  a  few  days  by." 

"An'  all  of  a  sudden  I  said  'fynes!' 
[ferns],"  said  Toddie. 

"Yes,"  said  Budge,  "Tod  said  it  first,  but 
I  thought  it  the  same  second.  An'  there's 
lovely  ferns  up  in  the  rocks.  Don't  you 
see?" 

Mrs.  Burton  looked,  and  shuddered.  The 
cliff  above  her  head  was  a  hundred  feet  high, 
jagged  all  over  its  front,  yet  from  every 
crevice  exquisite  ferns  posed  their  peaceful 
fronds  before  the  cold  gray  of  the  rock. 

"  'Twasn't      here,"      Budge      continued. 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   325 

'Twas  'way  up  around  the  corner,  where 
the  rocks  ain't  so  high,  but  they're  harder  to 
climb.  We  climbed  up  here  first." 

;'You  dreadful,  darling  children!"  ex 
claimed  Mrs.  Burton,  giving  Budge  a  squeeze 
of  extra  severity.  'To  think  of  two  little 
children  going  up  such  a  dreadful  place! 
Why,  it  makes  me  dizzy  to  see  your  Uncle 
Harry  do  it." 

"  Ain't  childrens,  when  we  climb  moun- 
tainsh!"  asserted  Toddie;  "we'zh  mans 
den." 

"Well,"  Budge  continued,  "we  got  lots, 
and  throwed  each  one  away  'cause  we  kept 
seein'  nicer  ones  higher  up.  Say,  Aunt  Alice, 
what's  the  reason  things  higher  up  always 
look  extra  nice?" 

"  I  know,"  said  Toddie. 

"Why  is  it,  Toddie?"  Mrs.  Burton  asked. 

'  'Cauzh  deysh  closer  to  hebben,"  said 
Toddie.  "  G'won,  Budgie.  I  likes  to  hear 
'bout  it,  too." 

"  Well,  at  last  we  got  to  a  place  where  the 
rocks  all  stopped  and  some  more  began.  An' 
up  on  them  was  the  loveliest  ferns  of  all." 

"  An'  I  went  up  dat  mountain  fyst,  I  did," 
said  Toddie. 

"Yes,   Tod  did,   the  blessed   little  sassy 


326     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

rascal,"  said  Budge,  blowing  a  kiss  to  his 
brother.  "  I  told  him  I  didn't  believe  that 
any  ferns  was  nicer  than  any  others,  but  he 
said,  'Lord '11  make  'em  so  den,  for  Aunt 
Alish.'  An'  up  he  went,  just  like  a  spider." 

"  Went  up  fyst,"  said  Toddie. 

'\'Courseyou  did,"  said  Budge.  "  'Cause  I 
didn't  go  up  at  all.  And  Tod  was  pullin'  at  a 
big  fern  with  his  back  to  me,  an'  the  first 
thing  I  knew  there  he  was  in  the  air  layin' 
down  sideways  on  no  thin'.  Then  he  hol 
lered." 

"  'Cauzh  I  earned  down  bunk  on  whole 
lotch  of  little  rocks,"  explained  Toddie.  "  But 
I  didn't  lose  the  fyne — here  tizh!"  and  Tod 
die  held  up  a  badly  crushed  and  wilted  ball 
of  something  that  had  once  been  a  fern,  see 
ing  which  Mrs.  Burton  placed  Budge  on  the 
stone,  hurried  to  Toddie,  thrust  the  bruised 
fern  into  her  bosom,  and  kissed  its  captor 
soundly. 

"Hold  me  some  more,"  said  Budge,  "I 
don't  feel  very  good  yet." 

" Then  what  did  you  do?"  asked  Mrs.  Bur 
ton,  resuming  her  position  as  nurse. 

"Why,  Tod  wrent  on  hollerin',  an'  he 
couldn't  walk,  so  I  helped  him  down  to  the 
road,  an'  he  couldn't  walk  yet— 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   327 

Mrs.  Burton  had  turned  again  to  Toddie, 
and  carefully  examined  his  legs  without  find 
ing  any  broken  bones. 

'  The  hurt  is  in  de  bottom  part  of  my  leg 
an'  de  top  part  of  my  foot, "  said  Toddie,  who 
had  turned  his  ankle. 

"An'  he  just  hollered  'mam-ma'  and  'pa 
pa,'  so  sad, "continued  Budge.  "An'  'twas 
awful.  An'  I  looked  up  the  road  an'  there 
wasn't  anybody,  an'  down  the  front  of  the 
mountain  and  there  wasn't  anybody,  an'  I 
didn't  know  what  to  do,  'cause  't wouldn't  do 
to  go  'way  off  home  to  tell,  when  a  poor  little 
brother  was  feelin'  so  dreadful  bad.  Then  I 
'membered  how  papa  said  he'd  sometimes 
seen  shot  soldiers  carried  away  when  there 
wasn't  any  wagons.  So  I  pulled  at  the  limb  of 
a  tree  to  get  the  thing  to  drag  him  on." 

"Why,  Budge!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton, 
"  you  don't  mean  to  say  you  got  that  bough 
all  alone  by  yourself,  do  you  ? ' ' 

"Well,  no,  I  guess  not,"  said  Budge,  hesi 
tatingly.  "  I  pulled  at  one  after  another, 
but  not  one  of  them  would  split,  and  then  I 
thought  of  somethin'  an'  kneeled  right  down 
by  the  tree,  an'  told  the  Lord  all  about  it,  an' 
told  Him  I  knew  He  didn't  want  poor  little 
hurt  Tod  to  lie  there  all  day,  an'  wouldn't 


328     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

He  please  help  me  break  a  limb  to  draw  him 
on?  An'  when  I  got  up  off  of  my  knees  I 
was  as  strong  as  forty  thousand  horses.  I 
don't  think  I  needed  the  Lord  to  help  me  a 
bit  then.  An'  I  just  gave  one  pull  at  the 
limb,  an'  down  it  came  kersplit,  an'  I  put  Tod 
on  it,  an'  dragged  him.  But  I  tell  you  it  was 
hard  work ! ' ' 

"  Twash  fun,  too,"  said  Toddie,  "  'cept 
when  it  went  where  dere  was  little  rocks  in  de 
road,  an'  dey  came  up  an'  hitted  de  hurt 
playsh." 

"  I  dragged  it  in  the  soft  parts  of  the  road," 
said  Budge,  "whenever  I  could,  but  some 
times  there  wasn't  any  soft  place  all  across 
the  road.  An'  things  jumped  inside  of  me— 
that  little  heart-engine,  you  know,  awfully. 
I  could  only  go  about  a  dozen  steps  without 
stoppin'  to  rest.  An'  then  Tod  stopped  cry- 
in'  an'  said  he  was  hungry,  an'  that  reminded 
me  that  I  was  hungry,  too." 

"  But  we  didn't  lose  the  fyne,"  said  Toddie. 

Mrs.  Burton  took  the  memento  from  her 
breast  and  kissed  it. 

"Why,"  said  Budge,  "you  like  it,  don't 
you?  All  right,  then.  Tod  an'  me  don't 
care  for  bothers  an'  hurts  now,  do  we,  Tod?" 

"No,  indeedy,"  said  Toddie.     "Not  when 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     329 

we  can  ride  like  shotted  soldiers,  an'  get 
home  to  get  breakbux  an'  lunch  togevver." 

"  Neither  of  you  shall  have  any  more 
trouble  about  getting  home,"  said  Mrs.  Bur 
ton.  'Just  sit  here  quietly  while  I  go  and 
send  a  carriage  for  you." 

"Oh!"  said  Budge.  "That'll  be  lovely; 
won't  it,  Tod ?  Ain't  you  glad  you  got  hurt? 
But  say?  Aunt  Alice,  haven't  you  got  any 
crackers  in  your  pocket  ? ' ' 

"Why,  no — certainly  not!"  exclaimed  the 
lady,  temporarily  losing  her  tenderness. 

"Oh!  I  thought  you  might  have.  Papa 
always  does,  when  he  goes  out  to  look  for  us 
when  we  stay  away  from  home  a  good 
while." 

Suddenly  a  horse's  hoofs  were  heard  on  the 
road  below. 

"I  shouldn't  wonder  if  that  was  Mike," 
said  Mrs.  Burton.  "  He  has  been  out  on 
horseback,  looking  for  you." 

"I  shouldn't  wonder  if  'twas  papa,"  said 
Budge.  "He's  the  funniest  man  for  always 
comin'  anywhere  first  when  we  need  him 
most." 

"An'  wif  crackers,"  Toddie  added. 

The  clattering  hoofs  came  nearer,  though 
slower,  and,  true  to  the  children's  intuitions, 


330     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

around  the  bend  of  the  road  came  Tom  Law 
rence  on  horseback,  an  old  army  haversack 
and  canteen  slung  over  his  shoulder. 

"  Papa! "  shouted  both  boys.  "  Hooray! " 
Tom  Lawrence  waved  his  hat,  and  Toddie 
shouted,  ''He's  got  de  crackers!  I  see  de 
bag!"  The  father  reined  up  suddenly  and 
dismounted,  Budge  rushed  to  his  arms,  and 
Toddie  exclaimed, 

"Papa,  guesh  it's  a  long  time  since  you's 
seen  a  shotted  soldier,  ain't  it?" 

Then  Toddie  was  placed  in  the  saddle,  and 
Budge  behind  him,  and  the  precious  haver 
sack  was  opened  and  found  to  contain  sand 
wiches,  and  both  boys  tried  to  drink  out  of 
the  canteen,  and  poured  a  great  deal  of  water 
into  their  bosoms,  and  Tom  led  the  horse 
carefully,  and  Mrs.  Burton  walked  upon  one 
side,  with  a  hand  under  Toddie 's  lame  leg  to 
keep  the  bruised  ankle  from  touching  the 
saddle,  and  she  did  not  swerve  from  the  mid 
dle  of  the  dusty  road,  even  when  carriages  full 
of  stylish  acquaintances  were  met,  and  both 
little  heroes,  like  men  of  larger  growth,  forgot 
at  once  that  they  had  ever  been  heroic,  and 
they  prattled  as  inconsequently  as  any  couple 
of  silly  children  could,  and  the  horse  was  led 
by  a  roundabout  road  so  that  no  one  might 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    331 

see  the  party  and  apprise  Mrs.  Lawrence  that 
anything  unusual  had  happened,  and  the 
boys  were  heavily  bribed  to  tell  their  mother 
nothing  until  their  father  had  explained,  and 
they  were  carried  in,  each  in  his  father's 
arms,  to  kiss  their  mamma;  and  when  they 
undressed  and  went  to  bed,  the  sister-baby 
was,  by  special  dispensation  of  the  nurse,  al 
lowed  to  lie  between  them  for  a  few  moments, 
and  the  evening  ceremonies  were  prolonged 
by  the  combined  arts  of  boys  and  parent,  and 
then  Budge  knelt  and  prayed : 

"  Dear  Lord,  we're  awful  glad  to  get  back 
again,  'cause  nobody  can  be  like  papa  and 
mamma  to  us,  an'  I'm  so  thankful  I  don't 
know  what  to  do  for  bein'  made  so  strong 
when  I  wanted  to  break  that  limb  off  of  the 
tree,  and  bless  dear  Aunt  Alice  for  fmdin'  us, 
and  bless  poor  uncle  more,  'cause  he  tried  to 
find  us,  and  was  disappointed,  and  make 
every  little  boy's  papa  just  like  ours,  to  come 
to  'em  just  when  they  need  him,  just  like  you, 
Amen." 

And  Toddie  shut  his  eyes  in  bed,  and  said, 
"  Dee  Lord,  I  went  up  de  mountain  fyst. 
Don't   forget   dat.     Amen." 


332     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 


CHAPTER  XII 

THERE  was  a  little  family  conclave  at 
the  Lawrence  house  a  fortnight  later. 
No  deliberative  meeting  had  been  intended ; 
quite  the  contrary;  for  Mrs.  Lawrence  was  on 
that  day  to  make  her  first  appearance  at  the 
dinner-table  in  a  month,  and  Mrs.  Burton  and 
her  husband  were  invited  to  step  in  informal 
ly  on  the  occasion,  and  they  had  been  glad 
enough  to  do  so  although  the  boys,  who  had 
been  allowed  to  dine  that  night  with  the  fam 
ily  in  honor  of  the  occasion,  conversed  so  vol 
ubly  that  no  other  person  at  the  table  could 
speak  without  interruption. 

But  there  came  an  hour  when  the  boys 
could  no  longer  prolong  the  usual  prelimi 
naries  of  going  to  bed,  although  they  kissed 
their  parents  and  visitors  once  as  a  matter  of 
course,  a  second  time  to  be  sure  they  had 
done  it,  and  a  third  time  to  assure  themselves 
that  they  had  forgotten  nobody.  Then  sev 
eral  chats  were  interrupted  by  various  juve 
nile  demands,  pleas  and  questions  from  the 
upper  floor;  but  as,  when  Lawrence  went  in 
person  to  answer  the  last  one  he  found  both 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    333 


boys  sleeping  soundly  the  families  devoted 
themselves  to  each  other  with  the  determina 
tion  of  passing  a  pleasant  evening.  They 
talked  of  what  was  going  on  in  the  world,  and 
much  that  might  be  going  on  but  was  not,  the 
blame  being  due  to  persons  who  did  not  think 
as  they  did;  they  sang,  played,  quoted  books, 
talked  pictures  and  bric-a-brac,  and  then  Mrs. 
Lawrence  changed  the  entire  course  of  con- 


\BQTH  BOYS  SLEEPING  SOUNDLY 

versation  by  promising 
to  replace  Mrs.  Bur 
ton's  chair  which  the  dog  Terry  had  destroyed 
by  special  arrangement  with  the  boys. 

"  You  sha'n't  do  anything  of  the  sort !' '  said 
Mrs.  Burton.  "Keep  the  dear  little  scamps 
from  playing  such  pranks  on  any  one  who 
don't  happen  to  love  them  so  well,  and  I'll 
forgive  them." 

''  You  don't  imagine  for  a  moment  that 
they  knew  what  the  result  would  be  when 


334     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

they  tied  Terry  to  the  chair,  do  you?"  Mrs. 
Lawrence  asked. 

"Never!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton,  em 
phatically,  "but  they  did  it,  and  it  might 
have  happened  somewhere  else,  with  people 
who  didn't  love  them  so  well,  and  what  would 
they  have  thought  ? ' ' 

"  She  means  that  strangers  would  have 
imagined  your  boys  a  couple  of  little  boors, 
Nell,"  said  Mr.  Burton  to  his  sister. 

"  Strangers  know  nothing  whatever  about 
other  people's  children,"  said  Mrs.  Lawrence 
with  dignity,  "and  they  should  therefore 
have  nothing  to  do  with  them  and  pass  no 
opinions  upon  them.  No  one  estimates 
children  by  what  they  are;  they  only  judge 
by  the  amount  of  trouble  they  make." 

"  Now  you've  done  it,  Mistress  Alice,"  said 
Mr.  Burton  to  his  wife.  "  It  is  better  to  meet 
a  she-bear  that  is  robbed  of  her  whelps  than 
a  mother  whose  children  are  criticized  by  any 
one  but  herself." 

"I've  done  it!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton. 
"  Who  translated  my  quiet  remark  into  some 
thing  offensive.  Besides,  you've  misapplied 
Scripture  only  to  suggest  things  worse  yet. 
If  I'm  not  mistaken,  the  proverb  about  the 
she-bear  and  her  whelps  has  something  in  it 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   335 

about  a  fool  and  his  folly.  Do  you  mean  to 
insinuate  such  insulting  ideas  about  your  sis 
ter  and  her  darlings  ? ' ' 

But  no  amount  of  badinage  could  make 
Mrs.  Lawrence  forget  that  some  implied  ad 
vice  was  secreted  in  her  sister-in-law's  care 
fully  worded  remark,  so  she  continued, 

"I'm  extremely  sorry  they  had  to  go  to 
you,  but  I  couldn't  imagine  what  better  to  do. 
I  wish  Tom  could  have  staid  at  home  all  the 
while  to  take  care  of  them.  I  hope,  if  we 
ever  die,  they  may  follow  us  at  once.  Noth 
ing  is  so  dreadful  as  the  idea  of  one's  children 
being  perpetually  misunderstood  by  some 
one  else,  and  having  their  honest  little  hearts 
hardened  and  warped  just  when  they  should 
be  cared  for  most  patiently  and  tenderly." 

"Helen!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton,  chang 
ing  her  seat  so  as  to  take  Mrs.  Lawrence's 
hand,  "  I'd  die  for  your  children  at  any  time, 
if  it  would  do  them  any  good." 

"I  believe  you,  you  dear  girl,"  said  Mrs. 
Lawrence,  recovering  her  natural  manner, 
and  not  entirely  unashamed  of  her  outburst 
of  feeling,  "but  you  don't  understand  it  all, 
as  you  will  some  day.  The  children  trouble 
me  worse  than  they  ever  did  or  can  any  one 
else;  but  it  isn't  their  fault,  and  I  know  it, 


336     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

and  can  endure  it.  No  one  else  can.  I  am 
sure  I  don't  know  how  to  blame  people  who 
are  annoyed  by  juvenile  pranks." 

"Then  what's  to  be  done  with  youngsters 
in  general?"  Mrs.  Burton  asked. 

"They're  to  be  kept  at  home,"  said  Mrs. 
Lawrence,  "under  the  eye  of  father  or 
mother  continually,  until  they  are  large 
enough  to  trust ;  and  the  age  at  which  they  're 
to  be  trusted  should  not  be  determined  by  the 
impatience  of  their  parents,  either." 

"Don't  be  frightened,  Allie,"  said  Tom. 
"  Helen  had  some  of  these  notions  before  she 
had  any  boys  of  her  own  to  defend." 

"They're  certainly  not  the  result  of  my 
children's  happy  experiences  with  the  best 
aunt  and  uncle  that  ever  lived,"  said  Mrs. 
Lawrence,  caressing  her  adopted  sister's 
hand.  "  If  you  could  hear  the  boys'  praises 
of  you  both,  you'd  grow  insufferably  vain, 
and  imagine  yourselves  born  to  manage 
orphan  asylums." 

"Heaven  forbid!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton, 
the  immediate  result  of  her  utterance  being 
the  partial  withdrawal  of  Mrs.  Lawrence's 
hand.  "There  are  only  two  children  in  the 
family- 

'  'Three, ' '  corrected  Mrs. Lawrence  promptly. 


337 

"Oh,  bless  me,  what  have  I  said!"  ex 
claimed  Mrs,  Burton.  "  Well,  there  are  only 
three  children  in  the  family,  and  they  are  not 
enough  to  found  an  asylum,  while  I  feel  ut 
terly  unfitted  to  care  for  any  one  child  that  I 
don't  know  very  well  and  love  very  dearly." 

"Is  it  possible  that  any  one  can  learn  so 
much  in  so  short  a  time?"  exclaimed  Tom 
Lawrence.  "  Harry,  my  boy,  you're  to  be 
congratulated." 

"  Upon  having  educated  me? "  Mrs.  Burton 
asked. 

"  Upon  the  rare  wisdom  with  which  he  se 
lected  a  wife,  or,  the  special  favor  he  found  at 
the  court  where  matches  are  made,"  Tom 
explained. 

"  Harry  didn't  select  me  at  all,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton.  "  Budge  did  it  for  him,  so  of  course 
the  match  was  decreed  in  heaven.  But  may 
I  know  of  what  my  sudden  acquisition  of 
knowledge  consists?  If  there's  anything  in 
my  experience  with  the  boys  that  I  am  not 
to  feel  humiliated  about,  I  should  be  ex 
tremely  glad  to  know  of  it.  I  went  into  the 
valley  of  humiliation  within  an  hour  of  their 
arrival,  and  since  then  I  've  scarcely  been  out 
of  it." 

"If    it    weren't    for    being    suspected    of 


338     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

throwing  moral  deductions  at  people,"  Tom 
replied,  "  I  would  say  that  that  same  valley 
of  humiliation  is  very  prolific  of  discoveries. 
But,  preaching  aside,  no  one  can  manage 
children  without  first  loving  them.  Even  a 
heart  full  of  love  has  to  make  room  for  a  lot 
of  sorrow  over  blunders  and  failures." 

"I've  learned  that  affection  is  absolutely 
necessary,"  said  Mrs.  Burton,  "but  I  confess 
that  I  don't  see  clearly  that  love  requires  that 
one  should  be  trampled  upon,  wheedled, 
made  of  no  account  and  without  authority  in 
one's  own  house,  submit  to  anything,  in 
fact- 

" Now  you've  done  it  again,"  whispered 
Mr.  Burton  to  his  wife,  as  Helen  Lawrence's 
cheek  began  to  flush,  and  that  maternal 
divinity  replied: 

"  Does  the  parent  of  all  of  us  resign  his 
authority  when  he  humors  us  in  our  childish 
ways  because  we  can't  comprehend  any 
greater  ones?  Every  concession  is  followed 
by  growth  on  the  part  of  his  children,  if  they 
are  honest;  when  they  are  not,  it  seems  to 
me  that  the  concessions  aren't  made.  But 
my  children  are  honest." 

Mrs.  Burton's  lips  were  parting,  seeing 
which  her  husband  whispered, 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY  339 

"Don't!" 

There  was  a  moment  or  two  of  silence ;  then 
Mrs.  Burton  asked: 

"  How  are  people  to  know  when  they're  not 
being  imposed  upon  by  children?  You  can't 
apply  to  the  funny  little  beings  the  rules  that 
explain  the  ways  of  grown  people. " 

"  Is  it  the  most  dreadful  thing  in  the  world 
to  be  imposed  upon  by  a  child?"  asked  Tom. 
"We  never  impose  upon  them,  do  we?  We 
never  give  them  unfair  answers,  arbitrary 
commands,  unkind  restrictions,  simply  to 
save  ourselves  a  little  extra  labor  or 
thought?" 

"Tom!"  Mrs.  Burton  exclaimed;  "I  don't 
do  anything  of  the  sort,  I  am  sure." 

"  Why  will  you  display  so  touchy  a  con 
science,  then?"  whispered  her  husband.  "  If 
you  continue  to  put  up  your  defense  the 
instant  Tom  launches  a  criticism,  he'll  begin 
to  suspect  you  of  dreadful  cruelty  to  the 
boys." 

"Not  I,  "laughed  Tom. 

"She  had  you  to  reform,  for  half  a  year 
before  the  boys  visited  her,"  said  Helen, 
"  and  you  still  live." 

"  But,  Tom,  seriously  now,  you  don't  mean 
to  have  me  infer  that  children  shouldn't  be 


340     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

made  to  mind,  and  be  prevented  from  doing 
things  that  can  bother  their  elders?"  asked 
Mr.  Burton. 

"Certainly  they  should  have  to  obey," 
said  Tom,  "but  I'd  rather  they  wouldn't,  if 
at  the  same  time  they  must  learn,  as  in  gen 
eral  they  do,  that  obedience  is  imposed  more 
for  the  benefit  of  their  elders  than  them 
selves." 

"I  was  always  taught  to  obey,"  said  Mrs. 
Burton,  with  the  not  unusual  though  always 
unconscious  peculiarity  of  supposing  the  re 
cital  of  personal  experience  to  be  a  sufficient 
argument  and  precedent. 

"  Do  you  find  the  habit  still  strong  in  her, 
Harry?"  asked  Tom. 

" Do  I!"  exclaimed  Harry,  with  a  mock 
tragic  air,  "  '  could  I  the  horrors  of  my  prison 
house  unfold,'  you  would  see  that  the  obe 
dient  member  of  the  Burton  family  never  ap 
pears  in  gowns." 

"Certainly not, "said Mrs.  Burton.  "Didn't 
he  promise  to  be  mine,  and  shall  I  neglect  my 
responsibilities?  I  obeyed  my  parents." 

"  And  never  doubted  that  their  orders  were 
wise,  beneficent,  and  necessary,  of  course?" 
asked  Lawrence. 

"Tom,  Tom!"  said  Helen,  warningly;  "if 


THE   OBEDIEXT   MEMBER  OF  THE   BURTON   FAMILY 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   341 

you  don't  want  Alice  to  abuse  other  people's 
children  be  careful  what  you  say  about  other 
children's  parents.  Don't  play  grand  in 
quisitor." 

"  Oh,  not  at  all,"  said  Tom,  hastily.  "  But 
I  should  like  to  borrow  woman's  curiosity  for 
a  while,  and  have  it  gratified  in  this  particular 
case." 

"  I  don't  know  that  I  always  admitted  the 
wisdom  of  my  parents'  commands, "  said  Mrs. 
Burton ; '  'but  how  could  I  ?  I  was  only  a  child. ' ' 

;<  You  rendered  unquestioning  obedience 
in  spirit  as  well  as  in  act,  when  you  became 
a  young  lady,  then?"  pursued  Tom. 

"No,  I  didn't.  There!"  Mrs.  Burton  ex 
claimed;  "  but  what  return  can  a  child  make 
for  parental  care  and  suffering,  except  to  at 
least  seem  to  be  a  model  of  compliance  with 
its  parents'  desires?" 

"Good!"  exclaimed  Harry.  "And  what 
can  a  husband,  who  knows  that  his  own  way 
is  best,  do  to  recompense  wifely  companion 
ship  but  meekly  do  as  his  wife  wants  him  to, 
no  matter  how  incorrect  her  ideas?" 

"  He  can  listen  to  reason  and  not  be  a  con 
ceited  goose,"  said  Mrs.  Burton;  "and  he 
can  refrain  from  impeding  the  flow  of  broth 
erly  instruction." 


342     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

'Tom  shall  say  whatever  he  likes,"  said 
Mr.  Burton. 

Mrs.  Lawrence's  smile  showed  that  she 
would  be  satisfied  with  the  result,  and  her 
husband  continued: 

"  Children — ninety-nine  one-hundredths  of 
those  I've  seen,  at  least,  are  treated  as  neces 
sary  nuisances  by  their  parents.  The  good 
fathers  and  mothers  would  be  horrified  to 
realize  this  truth,  and  when  it  accidentally 
presents  itself,  as  it  frequently  does  to  any 
with  heart  and  head,  its  appearance  is  so  un- 
pleasing  and  perplexing  that  they  promptly 
take  refuge  in  tradition.  Weren't  they 
brought  up  in  the  same  way?  To  be  sure, 
it's  the  application  of  the  same  rule  that  has 
always  made  the  ex-slave  the  cruelest  of 
overseers,  and  the  ex-servant  the  worst  of 
masters ;  but  such  comparisons  are  odious  to 
one's  pride,  and  what  chance  has  self-respect 
when  pride  steps  down  before  it  ? " 

"Poor  human  nature!"  sighed  Harry. 
''You'll  get  to  Adam's  fall  pretty  soon, 
won't  you,  Tom?" 

"  Don't  fear,"  laughed  Mr.  Lawrence.  "It's 
the  falling  of  later  people  that  troubles  me— 
that,  and  their  willingness  to  stay  down 
when  they've  tumbled  and  the  calmness  with 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY     343 

which  they  can  lie  quiet  and  crush  poor  little 
children  who  aren't  responsible  for  being  un 
der  them.  Adam  knew  enough  to  wish  him 
self  back  in  his  honorable  position,  but  most 
parents  have  had  no  lofty  position  to  which 
they  could  look  longingly  back,  and  but  few 
of  them  can  remember  any  such  place  having 
been  in  the  possession  of  any  member  of  their 
respective  families." 

"  But  wrhat  is  to  be  done,  even  if  any  one 
wishes  to  live  up  to  your  ideal  standard  as  a 
guardian  of  children?"  Mrs.  Burton  asked. 
"  Submit  to  any  and  every  imposition;  allow 
every  misdeed  to  go  unpunished ;  be  the  ruled 
instead  of  the  ruler  ? ' ' 

"Oh,  no,"  said  Tom,  "it's  something  far 
harder  than  that.  It  1s  to  live  for  the  children 
instead  of  one's  self." 

"  And  have  all  your  nice  times  spoiled  and 
your  plans  upset  ? ' ' 

'Yes,  unless  they're  really  of  more  value 
than  human  life  and  human  character,"  Tom 
replied.  ''  You  indicated  the  proper  starting 
point  in  your  last  remark ;  if  you'll  study  that 
for  yourself,  you'll  learn  a  great  deal  more 
than  I  can  tell  you,  and  learn  it  more  pleas 
antly  too." 

"  I  don't  care  to  study,"  said  Mrs.  Burton, 


344     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"when  I  can  get  my  information  at  second 
hand." 

"Go  on,  Tom,"  said  Mr.  Burton,  "Con 
tinue  to  appear  in  your  character  of  the 
'Parental  Encyclopaedist';  we'll  try  to  stop 
one  ear  so  that  what  goes  in  at  the  other 
shall  not  be  lost." 

"  I  only  want  to  say  that  the  plans  and 
good  times  spoiled  by  the  children  are  what 
ruin  every  promising  generation.  The  child 
should  be  taught,  but  instead  of  that  he  is 
only  restrained.  He  should  be  encouraged 
to  learn  the  meaning  and  the  essence  of 
whatever  of  the  inevitable  is  forced  upon  him 
from  year  to  year;  but  he  soon  learns  that 
children's  questions  are  as  unwelcome  as  tax- 
collectors  or  lightning-rod  men.  It's  aston 
ishing  how  few  hints  are  necessary  to  give  a 
child  the  habit  of  retiring  into  himself,  and 
from  there  to  such  company  as  he  can  find  to 
tolerate  him." 

"You  needn't  fear  for  your  boys,  Tom," 
said  Mr.  Burton.  "I'd  pay  handsomely  for 
the  discovery  of  a  single  question  which 
they  have  ever  wanted  to  ask  but  refrained 
from  putting." 

"And  w^hat  myriads  of  them  they  can 
ask — not  that  there's  anything  wrong 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    345 

about  it,  the  little  darlings,"  Mrs.  Burton 
added. 

"  I  am  glad  of  it,"  said  Tom;  "but  I  hope 
they  11  never  again  have  to  go  to  any  one  but 
their  mother  and  me  for  information." 

'Tom,  there  you  go  again!"  said  Mrs. 
Burton.  "Please  don't  believe  I  ever  re 
fused  them  an  answerer  answered  unkindly." 

"  Certainly  you  haven't, "  said  Tom.  "  Ex 
cuse  a  stale  quotation — '  the  exception  proves 
the  rule. '  I  Ve  really  been  nervously  anxious 
about  the  soundness  of  this  rule,  until  you 
were  brought  into  the  family,  for  I  never 
knew  another  exception." 

"  May  I  humbly  suggest  that  a  certain 
brother-in-law  existed  before  the  boys  had 
an  Aunt  Alice?"  asked  Mr.  Burton. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  Tom;  "  but  he  was  too  well 
rewarded,  for  the  little  he  did,  to  be  worthy  of 
consideration." 

Mrs.  Burton  inclined  her  head  in  acknowl 
edgment  of  her  brother-in-law's  compliment, 
and  asked : 

"  Do  you  think  all  children's  questions  are 
put  with  any  distinct  intention?  Don't  you 
imagine  that  they  ask  a  great  many  because 
they  don't  know  what  else  to  do,  or  because 
they  want  to — -to— 


346     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"To  talk  against  time,  she  means,  Tom," 
said  Mr.  Burton. 

"Very  likely.  But  the  answers  are  what 
are  of  consequence,  no  matter  what  the  mo 
tive  of  the  questions  may  be." 

"What  an  idea!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton; 
"really,  Tom,  aren't  you  afraid  you're  losing 
yourself  ? ' ' 

"I  really  hadn't  noticed  it,"  said  Tom; 
"but  perhaps  I  may  be  able  to  explain  my 
self  more  clearly.  You  go  to  church?" 

"Regularly — every  Sunday,"  responded 
Mrs.  Burton. 

"  And  always  with  the  most  reverent  feel 
ings,  of  course.  You  never  find  your  mind 
full  of  idle  questionings,  or  mere  curious  won 
dering,  or  even  a  perfect  blank,  or  a  circle 
upon  which  your  thoughts  chase  themselves 
around  to  their  starting  place  without  aim 
or  motive  ? ' ' 

"  How  well  you  know  the  ways  of  the  hum 
drum  mind,  Tom,"  said  Mrs.  Burton.  '  You 
didn't  learn  them  from  your  personal  expe 
rience,  of  course  ? ' ' 

"I  wish  I  hadn't!  But  supposing  you  at 
some  few  times  in  your  life  have  gone  into 
the  sanctuary  in  such  frames  of  mind,  did 
you  never  have  them  changed  by  what  you've 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   347 

heard  ?  Did  you  never  have  the  very  common 
experience  of  learning  that  it  is  at  these  very 
moments  of  weakness,  indecision,  blankness, 
childishness,  or  whatever  you  may  please  to 
call  it,  the  mind  becomes  peculiarly  retentive 
of  whatever  of  real  value  happens  to  strike  it  ?' ' 

Mrs.  Burton  reflected,  ancj,  by  silence  signi 
fied  her  assent,  but  she  was  not  fully  satisfied 
with  the  explanation,  for  she  asked, 

"  Do  you  think,  then,  that  all  the  ways  of 
children  are  just  as  they  should  be? — that 
they  never  ask  questions  from  any  but 
heaven-ordained  motives? — that  they  are 
utterly  devoid  of  petty  guile  ? ' ' 

'  They're  human,  I  believe,"  said  Mr.  Law 
rence,  "  and  full  of  human  weaknesses,  but 
any  other  human  beings — present  company 
excepted,  of  course — should  know  by  expe 
rience  how  little  malice  there  is  in  the  most 
annoying  of  people.  Certainly  children  do 
copy  the  faults  of  their  elders,  and — oh,  woe 
is  me!  inherit  the  failings  of  their  ancestors, 
but  it  is  astonishing  how  few  they  seem  to 
have  when  the  observer  will  forget  himself 
and  honestly  devote  himself  to  their  good.  I 
confess  it  does  need  the  wisdom  of  Solomon 
to  discover  when  they  are  honest  and  when 
they're  inclined  to  be  tricky." 


348     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  And  can  you  inform  us  where  the  wisdom 
of  Solomon  is  to  be  procured  for  the  purpose  ?" 
asked  Mrs.  Burton. 

"  From  the  source  at  which  Solomon  ob 
tained  it,  I  suppose,"  Tom  replied;  "from  an 
honest,  unselfish  mind.  But  it  is  so  much 
easier  to  trust  to  selfishness  and  its  twin 
demon  suspicion,  that  nothing  but  a  pitying 
Providence  saves  most  children  from  reform 
schools  and  penitentiaries." 

"  But  the  superiority  of  adults — their  right 
to  demand  implicit,  unquestioning  obedience 


"  Is  the  most  vicious,  debasing  tyranny 
that  the  world  is  cursed  by,"  Tom  exclaimed 
with  startling  emphasis.  "  It  gave  the  old 
Romans  power  of  life  and  death  over  their 
children.  It  cast  some  of  the  vilest  blots 
upon  the  pages  of  Holy  Writ.  Nowadays  it  is 
worse,  for  then  it  worked  its  principal  mischief 
upon  the  body,  but  nowadays  '  I  say  unto  you 
fear  not  them  that  kill  the  body,  but' — -ex 
cuse  a  free  rendering — fear  them  who  cast 
both  soul  and  body  into  hell.  You're  ortho 
dox,  I  believe." 

Mrs.  Burton  shuddered,  but  her  belief  in 
the  rights  of  adults,  which  she  had  inherited 
from  a  line  of  ancestors  reaching  back  to 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    349 

Adam  or  protoplasm,  was  more  powerful 
than  her  horror,  and  the  latter  was  quickly 
overcome  by  the  former. 

"Then  adults  have  no  rights  that  children 
are  bound  to  respect?"  she  asked. 

'  Yes;  the  right  of  undoing  the  failures  of 
their  own  education  and  doing  it  for  the  bene 
fit  of  beings  who  are  not  responsible  for  their 
own  existence.  Can  you  imagine  a  greater 
crime  than  calling  a  soul  into  existence  with 
out  its  own  desire  and  volition,  and  then 
making  it  your  slave  instead  of  making  your 
self  its  friend?" 

"Why,  Tom,  you're  perfectly  dreadful," 
exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton.  "  One  would  sup 
pose  that  parents  were  a  lot  of  pre-ordained 
monsters ! ' ' 

'They're  worse,"  said  Tom;  "they're  un 
thinking  people  with  a  lot  of  self-satisfaction, 
and  a  reputation  for  correctness  of  life. 
Malicious  people  are  easily  caught  and  kept 
out  of  mischief  by  the  law.  The  respectable, 
unintentional  evil-doers  are  those  who  make 
most  of  the  trouble  and  suffering  in  the  world." 

"  And  you  propose  to  go  through  life  dying 
deaths  daily  for  the  sake  of  those  children," 
said  Alice,  "  rather  than  make  them  what  you 
would  like  them  to  be  ? " 


350     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  No,"  said  Tom,  "  I  propose  to  live  a  new 
life  daily,  and  learn  what  life  should  be,  for 
the  sake  of  making  them  what  I  would  like 
them  to  be;  for  I  don't  value  them  so  much 
as  conveniences  and  playthings,  as  for  what 
they  may  be  to  themselves,  and  to  a  world 
that  sorely  needs  good  men." 

"And  women,"  added  Mrs.  Lawrence.  "I 
do  believe  you've  forgotten  the  baby,  you 
heartless  wretch ! ' ' 

"I  accept  the  amendment,"  said  Tom, 
"  but  the  world  has  already  more  good  women 
than  it  begins  to  appreciate." 

"Bless  me!  what  a  quantity  of  governing 
that  poor  sister-baby  will  get!"  said  Mrs. 
Burton.  "  But,  of  course,  you  don't  call  it 
governing;  you'll  denominate  it  self-immola 
tion;  you'll  lose  your  remaining  hair,  and 
grow  ten  years  older  in  the  first  year  of  its 
life." 

"I  shouldn't  wonder,"  said  Tom,  with  an 
expression  of  countenance  which  banished 
the  smiles  occasioned  by  his  sister-in-law's 
remark. 

"Oh,  dear!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton;  "is 
there  any  more?" 

"  Only  this — it's  positively  the  last — '  and, 
finally,  we  then  that  are  strong  ought  to  bear 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    351 

the  infirmities  of  the  weak,  and  not  to  please 
ourselves.'  Again  I  would  remark,  that  I 
believe  you're  orthodox? " 

The  Burtons  looked  very  sober  for  a  mo 
ment,  when  suddenly  there  came  through  the 
air  the  cry— 

"  Pa-pal" 

Tom  sprang  to  his  feet ;  Helen  looked  anx 
ious,  and  the  Burtons  smiled  quietly  at  each 


MAKING  THEM  WHAT  I  WOULD  LIKE  THEM   TO    BE 

other.  The  cry  was  repeated,  and  louder, 
and  as  Tom  opened  the  door  a  little  figure  in 
white  appeared. 

"  I  can't  get  to  sleep,"  said  Budge,  shield 
ing  his  eyes  a  moment  from  the  light.  "  I 
ain't  seen  you  for  so  long  that  I'se  got  to  sit 
in  your  lap  till  some  sleep  will  come  to  me." 

"Come  to  auntie,  Budge,"  said  Mrs.  Bur 
ton.  "Poor  papa  is  real  tired;  you  can't 


352     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

imagine  the  terrible  work  he's  been  at  for  an 
hour." 

"  Papa  says  it  rests  him  to  rest  me,"  said 
Budge,  clasping  his  father  tightly. 

The  Burtons  looked  on  with  quiet  amuse 
ment,  until  there  arose  another  cry  in  the  hall 
of- 

"Papa!  Ow!  pa-pa!" 

Again  Tom  hurried  to  the  door,  this  time 
with  Budge  clinging  around  his  neck.  As  the 
door  opened,  Toddie  crept  in  on  his  hands  and 
knees,  exclaiming: 

"  De  old  bed  wazh  all  empty,  only  'cept  me, 
an'  I  kwawled  down  de  stepsh  'cauzh  I  didn't 
want  to  be  loneshome  no  more.  And  Ize  all 
empty  too,  and  I  wantsh  somefin'  to  eat." 

Helen  went  to  the  dining-room  closet  and 
brought  in  a  piece  of  light  cake. 

"There  goes  all  my  good  instructions," 
groaned  Mrs.  Burton.  '  To  think  of  the  in 
dustry  with  which  I  have  always  labored  to 
teach  those  children  that  it's  injurious  to  eat 
between  meals,  and,  worse  yet,  to  eat  cake!" 

"  And  to  think  of  how  you  always  ended  by 
letting  the  children  have  their  own  way!" 
added  Mr.  Burton. 

"  Eating  between  meals  is  the  least  of  two 
evils, ' '  said  Tom.  "  When  a  small  boy  is  kept 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    353 

in  bed  with  a  sprained  ankle,  and  on  a  short 
allowance  of  food—  Oh,  dear!  I  see  my 
subject  nosing  around  again,  Alice.  Do  you 
know  that  most  of  the  wickednesses  of  chil 
dren  come  from  the  lack  of  proper  attention 
to  their  physical  condition?" 

"  Save  me !  Pity  me ! ' '  exclaimed  Mrs.  Bur 
ton.  "I'm  convinced  already  that  I  don't 
know  a  single  thing  about  children,  and  I'll 
know  still  less  if  I  take  another  lesson  to 
day." 

"  Izh  you  takin'  lessons,  Aunt  Alish?" 
asked  Toddie,  who  had  caught  a  fragment  of 
the  conversation.  "  What  book  is  you  lynin' 
f  worn  ? ' ' 

"A  primer,"  replied  Mrs.  Burton;  "the 
very  smallest,  most  insignificant  of  A  B  C 
books." 

"Why,  can't  you  read?"  asked  Budge. 

"Oh,  yes,"  sighed  Mrs.  Burton.  "'But 
whether  there  be  knowledge  it  shall  vanish 
away.' ' 

'"But  love  never  faileth,'"  responded  Mr. 
Lawrence. 

"If  you  want  to  learn  anythin',"  said 
Budge,  "  just  you  ask  my  papa.  He'll  make 
you  know  all  about  it,  no  matter  how  awful 
stupid  you  are." 


354     BUDGE  AND  TODDIE,  OR 

"  Many  thanks  for  the  advice — and  the  in 
sinuations,"  said  Mrs.  Burton.  "I  feel  as 
if  the  latter  were  specially  pertinent,  from 
the  daze  my  head  is  in.  I  never  knew  before 
how  necessary  it  was  to  be  nobody  in  order 
to  be  somebody." 

The  boys  took  possession  of  their  father, 
one  on  each  knee,  and  Tom  rocked  with 
them  and  chatted  in  a  low  tone  to  them,  and 
hummed  a  tune,  and  finally  broke  into  a  song, 
and  as  it  happened  to  be  one  of  the  variety 
known  as  "  roaring,  "his  brother-in-law  joined 
him,  and  the  air  recalled  old  friends  and  old 
associations,  and  both  voices  grew  louder, 
and  the  ladies  caught  the  air  and  increased 
its  volume  with  their  own  voices,  when  sud 
denly  a  very  shrill  thin  voice  was  heard 
above  their  heads,  and  Mrs.  Lawrence 
exclaimed : 

"  Sh— h— h!  The  baby  is  awake." 
Subsequent  sounds  indicated  beyond  doubt 
that  Mrs.  Lawrence  was  correct  in  her  sup 
position,  and  she  started  instinctively  for  the 
upper  floor,  but  found  herself  arrested  by  her 
husband's  arm  and  anxious  face,  while  Mrs. 
Burton  exclaimed, 

"Oh,  bring  it  down  here!     Please,  do!" 
The  nurse  was  summoned,  and  soon  ap- 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY    355 

peared  with  a  wee  bundle  of  flannel,  linen, 
pink  face  and  fingers. 

"  Give  her  to  me! "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Burton, 
rising  to  take  the  baby,  but  the  baby  ex 
claimed  "Ah!"  and  its  mother  snatched  it. 
Then  the  baby  did  its  best  to  hide  in  its 
mother's  bosom,  and  its  mother  did  her  best 
to  help  it,  and  by  the  merest  chance  a  rosy 
little  foot  escaped  from  its  covering,  seeing 
which  Mrs.  Burton  hurriedly  moved  her 
chair  and  covered  the  foot  with  both  her 
hands;  though  it  would  have  been  equally 
convenient  and  far  less  laborious  to  have 
tucked  the  foot  back  among  its  habitual 
wrappings.  Then  the  boys  had  to  be  moved 
nearer  the  baby,  so  that  they  could  touch  it, 
and  try  to  persuade  it  to  coo ;  and  Harry  Bur 
ton  found  himself  sitting  so  far  from  any  one 
else  that  he  drew  his  chair  closer  to  the  group, 
just  to  be  sociable;  and  the  Lawrences  grew 
gradually  to  look  very  happy,  while  the  Bur 
tons  grew  more  and  more  solemn,  and  at  last 
the  hands  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Burton  met 
under  the  superabundant  wraps  of  the  baby, 
and  then  their  eyes  met,  and  the  lady's  eyes 
were  full  of  tears  and  her  husband's  full  of 
tenderness,  and  Budge,  who  had  taken  in  the 
whole  scene,  broke  the  silence  by  remarking; 


356 

''  Why,  Aunt  Alice,  what  are  you  crying 
for?" 

Then  every  one  looked  up  and  looked 
awkward,  until  Mrs.  Lawrence  leaned  over 
the  baby  and  kissed  her  sister-in-law,  notic 
ing  which  the  two  men  rose  abruptly,  although 
Tom  Lawrence  found  occasion  to  indulge  in 
the  ceremony  of  taking  Harry  Burton  by  the 
hand.  Then  the  baby  yielded  to  her  aunt's 
solicitations,  and  changed  her  resting-place 
for  a  few  moments,  and  the  gentlemen  were 
informed  that  if  they  wanted  to  smoke  they 
would  have  to  do  it  in  the  dining-room,  for 
Mrs.  Lawrence  was  not  yet  able  to  bear  it. 
Then  the  gentlemen  adjourned  and  stared 
at  each  other  as  awkwardly  over  their  cigars 
as  if  they  had  never  met  before,  and  the  ladies 
chatted  as  confidentially  as  if  they  were  twin 
sisters  that  had  never  been  separated,  and 
the  boys  were  carried  back  to  bed,  one  by 
each  gentleman,  and  they  were  re-kissed 
good  night,  and  their  father  and  uncle  were 
departing  when  Toddie  remarked, 

"Papa,  mamma  hazhn't  gived  our  sister- 
baby  to  Aunt  Alish  to  keep,  hazh  she?" 

"No,  old  chap,"  said  Tom. 

"  I  don't  want  anybody  to  have  that  sister- 
baby  but  us,"  said  Budge;  "but  if  anybody 


HELEN'S  BABIES  AT  PLAY   357 

had  to,  Aunt  Alice  would  be  the  person.  Do 
you  know,  I  believe  she  was  prayin'  to  it,  she 
looked  so  funny." 

The  gentlemen  winked  at  each  other,  and 
again  Tom  Lawrence  took  the  hand  of  his 
brother-in-law.  Several  months  later,  the 
apprehensions  of  the  boys  were  quieted  by 
the  appearance  of  a  little  visitor  at  the  Bur- 


A  LITTLE  VISITOR  AT  THE   BURTONS 

tons',  who  acted  as  if  she  had  come  to  stay, 
and  who  in  the  course  of  years  cured  Mrs. 
Burton  of  every  assumption  of  the  ability  of 
relatives  to  manage  "  Other  People's  Chil 
dren." 

THE    END. 


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THE   SPIRIT   OF   THE   SERVICE.     By  Edith  Elmer 

Wood.  With  illustrations  by  Rufus  Zogbaum. 
The  standards  and  life  of  "  the  new  navy  "  are  breezily  set  forth 
with  a  geuuine  ring  impossible  from  the  most  gifted  "  outsider." 
"  The  story  of  the  destruction  of  the  '  Maine,'  and  of  the  Battle  of 
Manila,  are  very  dramatic.  The  author  is  the  daughter  of  one  naval 
officer  and  the  wife  of  another.  Naval  folks  will  find  much  to  inter 
est  them  in  '  The  Spirit  of  the  Service.'  " — The  Book  Buyer. 

A  SPECTRE  OF  POWER.    By  Charles  Egbert  Craddock. 

Miss  Murfree  has  pictured  Tennessee  mountains  and  the  mountain 
people  in  striking  colors  and  with  dramatic  vividness,  but  goes  back 
to  the  time  of  the  struggles  of  the  French  and  English  in  the  early 
eighteenth  century  for  possession  of  the  Cherokee  territory.  The 
story  abounds  in  adventure,  mystery,  peril  and  suspense. 

THE  STORM  CENTRE.    By  Charles  Egbert  Craddock. 

A  war  story ;  but  more  of  flirtation,  love  and  courtship  than  of 
fighting  or  history.  The  tale  is  thoroughly  readable  and  takes  its 
readers  again  into  golden  Tennessee,  into  the  atmosphere  which  has 
distinguished  all  of  Miss  Murfree 's  novels. 

THE  ADVENTURESS.  By  Coralie  Stanton.  With  color 
frontispiece  by  Harrison  Fisher,  and  attractive  inlay  cover 
in  colors. 

As  a  penalty  for  her  crimes,  her  evil  nature,  her  flint-like  callous 
ness,  her  more  than  inhuman  cruelty,  her  contempt  for  the  laws  of 
God  and  man,  she  was  condemned  to  bury  her  magnificent  personal 
ty,  her  transcendent  beauty,  her  superhuman  charms,  in  gilded 
obscurity  at  a  King's  left  hand.  A  powerful  story  powerfully  told. 

THE    GOLDEN    GREYHOUND.     A  Novel  by  Dwight 

Tilton.     With  illustrations  by  E.  Pollak. 

A  thoroughly  good  story  that  keeps  you  guessing  to  the  very  end, 
and  never  attempts  to  instruct  or  reform  you.  It  is  a  strictly  up-to- 
date  story  of  love  and  mystery  with  wireless  telegraphy  and  all  the 
modern  improvements.  The  events  nearly  all  take  place  on  a  big 
Atlantic  liner  and  the  romance  of  the  deep  is  skilfully  made  to  serve 
as  a  setting  for  the  romance,  old  as  mankind,  yet  always  new,  in 
volving  our  hero. 

GROSSET  &  DUNLAP,  -  NEW  YORK 


DATE  DUE 


GAYLORD 


000548339    1 


